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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. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  8. My mare is ________________ in color.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  13. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  14. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  15. There's no middle ________________.
  16. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  17. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. The players ran onto the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. cold — an illness
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. ground — the earth
  5. land — a country
  6. land — ground
  7. pitch — completely
  8. bay — a horse colour
  9. clip — to cut
  10. bay — a part of the sea
  11. land — to come down
  12. pitch — a sales talk
  13. patient — a sick person
  14. ground — crushed
  15. ground — a position
  16. patient — calm and waiting
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. clip — for paper
  20. bay — to keep at bay
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. bat — the animal
  23. cold — not warm
  24. pitch — a sports field

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