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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: lie · straw · patient · drill · wind · bay · stem · clip

  1. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  2. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  3. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  6. My mare is ________________ in color.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  12. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  13. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  14. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  19. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  22. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  23. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  24. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.

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

Answer key

  1. patient — calm and waiting
  2. lie — an untruth
  3. patient — a sick person
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. patient — a sick person
  6. bay — a horse colour
  7. clip — a video
  8. bay — a part of the sea
  9. clip — for paper
  10. wind — moving air
  11. drill — the tool
  12. straw — to clutch at straws
  13. bay — to keep at bay
  14. drill — army training
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. drill — a practice
  17. clip — to cut
  18. wind — moving air
  19. stem — a stem cell
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. stem — of a plant
  22. lie — an untruth
  23. stem — to come from
  24. lie — to recline

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