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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. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  8. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  9. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  10. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  11. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  17. That was ________________ to happen.
  18. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  19. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  20. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. bear — to put up with
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. bowl — a football final
  5. clip — a video
  6. clip — for paper
  7. patient — a sick person
  8. bear — the animal
  9. bear — the animal
  10. patient — calm and waiting
  11. bowl — a dish
  12. mine — for digging
  13. patient — a sick person
  14. wind — moving air
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. bound — obliged
  17. bound — certain
  18. bound — tied together
  19. bowl — to roll
  20. mine — an explosive
  21. clip — to cut
  22. mine — belonging to me
  23. cold — an illness
  24. cold — not warm

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