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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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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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  3. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  4. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  5. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  6. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  7. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  11. The ________________ went through the wall.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  14. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  15. The ________________ took off on time.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  20. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. patient — a sick person
  3. file — a tool
  4. pound — to hit hard
  5. nail — on a finger
  6. drill — the tool
  7. pound — for dogs
  8. field — for sport
  9. field — a subject
  10. patient — a sick person
  11. nail — for a hammer
  12. cold — an illness
  13. pound — a weight
  14. plane — in geometry
  15. plane — an aircraft
  16. file — a line of people
  17. nail — for a hammer
  18. file — a document
  19. drill — army training
  20. plane — a tool
  21. cold — not warm
  22. drill — a practice
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. patient — calm and waiting

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