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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. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  4. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  5. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  8. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  9. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  10. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  11. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  12. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  15. The ball is in your ________________.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — the fish
  2. cold — an illness
  3. straw — dry grass
  4. straw — a straw man
  5. patient — a sick person
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. track — a song
  8. track — a path
  9. bass — low music
  10. track — to keep track
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. object — a thing
  13. court — of a king
  14. object — to protest
  15. court — for sport
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. patient — calm and waiting
  18. clip — to cut
  19. bass — the instrument
  20. clip — for paper
  21. clip — a video
  22. object — an aim
  23. cold — not warm
  24. court — of law

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