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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 116 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 always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  3. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  4. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  5. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  6. She's very handy with a ________________.
  7. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  8. There's no middle ________________.
  9. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  10. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  11. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  12. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  21. He works in a ________________ mill.
  22. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  23. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  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. straw — a straw man
  2. patient — a sick person
  3. patient — calm and waiting
  4. ground — the earth
  5. dip — a sauce
  6. saw — the tool
  7. dip — to dunk
  8. ground — a position
  9. vault — in gymnastics
  10. vault — a safe
  11. ground — crushed
  12. vault — an arched ceiling
  13. clip — a video
  14. clip — to cut
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. saw — past of 'see'
  17. cold — not warm
  18. clip — for paper
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. saw — the tool
  22. dip — to sink
  23. straw — dry grass
  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