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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 120 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  3. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  4. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  5. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  6. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  7. That was ________________ to happen.
  8. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  9. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  10. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  11. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  12. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. prune — to trim
  4. mouse — the animal
  5. mouse — for a computer
  6. prune — to trim
  7. bound — certain
  8. fan — to cool the air
  9. bound — tied together
  10. prune — the fruit
  11. fan — a supporter
  12. mouse — the animal
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. patient — calm and waiting
  15. clip — a video
  16. clip — for paper
  17. field — a subject
  18. field — farmland
  19. patient — a sick person
  20. cold — not warm
  21. bound — obliged
  22. field — for sport
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. cold — an illness

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com