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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  2. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. We're on a ________________ here.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  10. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  11. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  12. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  13. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  18. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  21. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  22. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a document
  2. band — a rubber band
  3. field — a subject
  4. tear — to rip
  5. cold — not warm
  6. field — farmland
  7. roll — on a roll
  8. cold — an illness
  9. band — a ring
  10. roll — a list
  11. file — a line of people
  12. can — to be able to
  13. band — a music group
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. can — a tin
  16. file — a tool
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. patient — a sick person
  19. tear — from crying
  20. can — a tin
  21. roll — a cake
  22. patient — calm and waiting
  23. field — for sport
  24. tear — from crying

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