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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. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  2. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  3. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  6. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  7. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  8. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  11. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  19. We're on a ________________ here.
  20. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  23. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  24. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. dip — a sauce
  2. net — for catching
  3. patient — a sick person
  4. clip — to cut
  5. dip — to dunk
  6. roll — a cake
  7. net — after costs
  8. patient — calm and waiting
  9. clip — a video
  10. vault — an arched ceiling
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. hand — in cards
  13. hand — help
  14. clip — for paper
  15. tear — to rip
  16. tear — from crying
  17. tear — from crying
  18. roll — a list
  19. roll — on a roll
  20. dip — to sink
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. net — in sport
  23. vault — in gymnastics
  24. vault — a safe

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