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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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Word bank
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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: dip · clip · sharp · cold · patient · bat · toast · bowl

  1. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  3. It's one o'clock ________________.
  4. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  5. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  6. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  7. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  8. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  9. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  10. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  20. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  23. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. dip — to dunk
  3. sharp — exactly
  4. bowl — a football final
  5. bowl — to roll
  6. dip — to sink
  7. toast — the most admired
  8. dip — a sauce
  9. sharp — clever
  10. patient — a sick person
  11. cold — not warm
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. clip — to cut
  14. toast — a drink to someone
  15. cold — an illness
  16. patient — calm and waiting
  17. clip — for paper
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. toast — bread
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. sharp — with an edge
  23. bowl — a dish
  24. clip — a video

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