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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. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  6. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  7. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  8. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  9. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  12. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  13. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  14. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  15. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  16. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  17. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  21. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  22. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  23. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. file — a line of people
  3. field — for sport
  4. hand — help
  5. chip — in a computer
  6. file — a document
  7. patient — a sick person
  8. lean — to rest against
  9. lean — to bend
  10. field — farmland
  11. club — for dancing
  12. lean — thin
  13. race — the arms race
  14. chip — to eat
  15. chip — for betting
  16. race — humankind
  17. club — for golf
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. hand — in cards
  20. patient — calm and waiting
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. club — a group
  23. race — a contest
  24. file — a tool

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