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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 King held a masked ________________.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  4. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  5. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  10. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  11. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  12. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  13. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  17. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  18. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  19. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  20. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  21. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  22. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  23. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  24. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a dance
  2. clip — a video
  3. lash — to lash out
  4. patient — a sick person
  5. patient — calm and waiting
  6. clip — for paper
  7. wind — moving air
  8. clip — to cut
  9. lash — a whip stroke
  10. object — to protest
  11. snap — to snap out of it
  12. snap — to click
  13. snap — to speak sharply
  14. wind — moving air
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. object — an aim
  17. march — the month
  18. ball — a round shape
  19. march — the month
  20. object — a thing
  21. ball — a great time
  22. lash — an eyelash
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. march — music

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