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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 ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. How do you ________________ your surname?
  6. The light ________________ burned out.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  11. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  12. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  13. I've got to change the light ________________.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. She's very handy with a ________________.
  16. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  17. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  23. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  24. He works in a ________________ mill.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. spell — a short time
  4. field — for sport
  5. spell — letters
  6. bulb — for light
  7. clip — for paper
  8. bulb — of a plant
  9. field — a subject
  10. snap — to click
  11. patient — calm and waiting
  12. saw — past of 'see'
  13. bulb — for light
  14. clip — to cut
  15. saw — the tool
  16. snap — to snap out of it
  17. snap — to speak sharply
  18. field — farmland
  19. clip — a video
  20. spell — magic
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. saw — the tool

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