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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: rule · fall · row · bat · jam · patient · clip · rash

  1. Don't do anything ________________.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  5. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  8. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  11. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  12. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  13. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  14. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  15. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  16. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  17. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  18. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  19. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. Tom got himself in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — hasty
  2. clip — a video
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. row — a line
  5. rash — on the skin
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. fall — the season
  8. jam — in traffic
  9. clip — to cut
  10. rule — a law
  11. fall — to drop
  12. rule — government
  13. rule — to rule out
  14. patient — calm and waiting
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. jam — to spread on bread
  17. row — to paddle
  18. patient — a sick person
  19. fall — to drop
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. bat — the animal
  22. rash — a series
  23. clip — for paper
  24. jam — a tight spot

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