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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. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  2. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  3. He works in a ________________ mill.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  11. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  14. She's very handy with a ________________.
  15. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  16. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  20. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  21. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. saw — past of 'see'
  2. wave — with your hand
  3. saw — the tool
  4. field — farmland
  5. dip — a sauce
  6. clip — a video
  7. cold — an illness
  8. march — the month
  9. clip — to cut
  10. dip — to dunk
  11. patient — calm and waiting
  12. cold — not warm
  13. march — music
  14. saw — the tool
  15. dip — to sink
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. field — for sport
  19. wave — of the sea
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. wave — a sudden rise
  22. clip — for paper
  23. march — the month
  24. field — a subject

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