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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 124 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's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  2. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  3. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  6. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  11. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  12. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  21. Don't do anything ________________.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. patient — calm and waiting
  3. wound — an injury
  4. land — to come down
  5. patient — a sick person
  6. patient — a sick person
  7. capital — a city
  8. object — an aim
  9. clip — for paper
  10. rash — a series
  11. object — to protest
  12. row — a line
  13. clip — to cut
  14. land — ground
  15. clip — a video
  16. rash — on the skin
  17. land — a country
  18. object — a thing
  19. capital — money
  20. row — a quarrel
  21. rash — hasty
  22. row — to paddle
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. capital — a big letter

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