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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. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  8. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  11. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  12. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  13. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  14. He was locked up in a ________________.
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  18. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  19. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  20. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  23. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  24. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. patient — a sick person
  2. clip — for paper
  3. cell — in biology
  4. mine — for digging
  5. clip — a video
  6. clip — to cut
  7. rock — music
  8. drill — a practice
  9. kid — to tease
  10. mine — an explosive
  11. patient — calm and waiting
  12. wake — a trail
  13. rock — a stone
  14. cell — in a prison
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. rock — to move gently
  18. cell — a phone
  19. drill — the tool
  20. wake — to stop sleeping
  21. kid — child
  22. wake — before a funeral
  23. drill — army training
  24. patient — a sick person

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