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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 sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  2. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  3. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  4. Don't do anything ________________.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  9. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  10. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  18. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  19. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. The ________________ market has crashed.
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — to shout
  2. patient — a sick person
  3. bark — of a tree
  4. rash — hasty
  5. clip — to cut
  6. stock — goods
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. cap — a hat
  9. cap — a lid
  10. cap — of ice
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. patient — calm and waiting
  13. bat — the animal
  14. rash — a series
  15. clip — a video
  16. clip — for paper
  17. bark — a dog's sound
  18. rash — on the skin
  19. stock — a soup base
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. mine — for digging
  23. stock — shares
  24. mine — an explosive

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