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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. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  2. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  11. She's very handy with a ________________.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  15. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  16. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. He works in a ________________ mill.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. patient — calm and waiting
  2. patient — a sick person
  3. field — farmland
  4. content — the amount
  5. capital — a city
  6. content — happy
  7. capital — money
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. clip — a video
  10. pit — a fruit stone
  11. saw — the tool
  12. clip — to cut
  13. field — for sport
  14. pit — in a race
  15. pit — a hole
  16. saw — past of 'see'
  17. clip — for paper
  18. spring — of water
  19. patient — a sick person
  20. field — a subject
  21. saw — the tool
  22. spring — a coil
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. spring — the season

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