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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 116 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: patient · content · wave · coach · clip · calf · cold · mine

  1. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  6. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  9. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  10. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  16. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  19. Have you met the new head ________________?
  20. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  21. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  24. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.

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

Answer key

  1. patient — calm and waiting
  2. clip — a video
  3. clip — to cut
  4. cold — an illness
  5. calf — of the leg
  6. wave — of the sea
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. patient — a sick person
  9. calf — a young animal
  10. coach — pulled by horses
  11. clip — for paper
  12. cold — not warm
  13. content — happy
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. wave — with your hand
  16. wave — a sudden rise
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. mine — for digging
  19. coach — a trainer
  20. calf — a young animal
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. content — the amount
  24. coach — a trainer

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