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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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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 · chip · cold · clip · season · bowl · root · cell

  1. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  2. Did you ________________ the meat?
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. He was locked up in a ________________.
  6. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  7. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  8. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  9. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  12. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  18. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  19. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  20. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  21. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  22. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  23. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  24. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — to roll
  2. season — to add flavour
  3. cold — an illness
  4. clip — to cut
  5. cell — in a prison
  6. cell — in biology
  7. season — of the year
  8. root — the cause
  9. chip — for betting
  10. clip — for paper
  11. patient — calm and waiting
  12. root — of a plant
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. patient — a sick person
  15. cold — not warm
  16. clip — a video
  17. season — in sport
  18. root — of a word
  19. chip — in a computer
  20. cell — a phone
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. bowl — a football final
  23. chip — to eat
  24. bowl — a dish

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