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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.

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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. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  2. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  5. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  6. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  14. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  15. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  16. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  19. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  20. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  21. Where did you ________________ them?
  22. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  23. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. dip — to dunk
  2. patient — a sick person
  3. land — ground
  4. stem — to come from
  5. mug — a cup
  6. drill — army training
  7. land — to come down
  8. file — a tool
  9. game — a match
  10. dip — a sauce
  11. game — wild animals
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. stem — of a plant
  14. land — a country
  15. patient — calm and waiting
  16. drill — a practice
  17. file — a document
  18. dip — to sink
  19. stem — a stem cell
  20. mug — a face
  21. mug — to rob
  22. drill — the tool
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. file — a line of people

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