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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: rash · plane · hand · roll · tube · race · patient · clip

  1. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  2. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. I'll be taking the ________________.
  8. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  9. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  10. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  11. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  12. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  13. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  14. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  15. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  16. Don't do anything ________________.
  17. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  18. The ________________ took off on time.
  19. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  20. We're on a ________________ here.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.

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

Answer key

  1. roll — a list
  2. roll — a cake
  3. hand — in cards
  4. clip — to cut
  5. patient — a sick person
  6. hand — help
  7. tube — the underground
  8. patient — calm and waiting
  9. tube — in a tire
  10. rash — on the skin
  11. race — humankind
  12. plane — in geometry
  13. tube — a container
  14. plane — a tool
  15. race — the arms race
  16. rash — hasty
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. plane — an aircraft
  19. race — a contest
  20. roll — on a roll
  21. clip — a video
  22. clip — for paper
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. rash — a series

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