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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: bear · ground · wound · wake · patient · bat · clip · rule

  1. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  2. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  3. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  8. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  11. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  12. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  13. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  14. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  15. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. There's no middle ________________.
  20. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  24. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — crushed
  2. bear — to put up with
  3. wake — before a funeral
  4. clip — for paper
  5. rule — to rule out
  6. clip — a video
  7. bear — the animal
  8. ground — the earth
  9. bat — the animal
  10. bear — the animal
  11. rule — government
  12. patient — a sick person
  13. wound — past of 'wind'
  14. wound — an injury
  15. rule — a law
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. patient — calm and waiting
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. ground — a position
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. wound — an injury
  22. clip — to cut
  23. wake — a trail
  24. wake — to stop sleeping

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