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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 hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  2. It's one o'clock ________________.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  6. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  7. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  8. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. That must've been a ________________.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  19. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  20. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  21. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  24. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mark — a trace
  2. sharp — exactly
  3. wind — moving air
  4. clip — to cut
  5. mark — to pay attention
  6. sharp — clever
  7. patient — a sick person
  8. rush — hurry
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. wind — moving air
  11. pit — a fruit stone
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. pit — in a race
  14. clip — a video
  15. cold — an illness
  16. rush — a thrill
  17. cold — not warm
  18. sharp — with an edge
  19. pit — a hole
  20. mark — a grade
  21. patient — calm and waiting
  22. clip — for paper
  23. rush — to hurry
  24. patient — a sick person

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