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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. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  2. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  3. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  6. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  10. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  13. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  17. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  18. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  19. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  20. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  23. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — for digging
  2. object — to protest
  3. object — an aim
  4. clip — for paper
  5. kick — in football
  6. kick — a thrill
  7. cold — an illness
  8. clip — a video
  9. ruler — for measuring
  10. ruler — for measuring
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. patient — calm and waiting
  13. patient — a sick person
  14. clip — to cut
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. object — a thing
  17. ruler — a monarch
  18. kick — with a leg
  19. lean — to rest against
  20. lean — to bend
  21. cold — not warm
  22. lean — thin
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. cold — the Cold War

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