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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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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: patient · cold · board · wake · clip · foot · sharp · wind

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  5. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  6. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  7. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  8. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  12. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  20. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  21. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  22. It's one o'clock ________________.
  23. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  24. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. sharp — with an edge
  3. cold — an illness
  4. wind — moving air
  5. patient — a sick person
  6. board — to get on
  7. foot — the bottom
  8. wake — a trail
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. cold — not warm
  11. sharp — clever
  12. patient — a sick person
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. foot — a measure
  15. clip — to cut
  16. clip — a video
  17. wake — to stop sleeping
  18. wind — moving air
  19. foot — part of the body
  20. wake — before a funeral
  21. board — a flat piece
  22. sharp — exactly
  23. patient — calm and waiting
  24. board — a committee

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