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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 museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  2. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  3. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  4. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  10. We're on a ________________ here.
  11. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  12. Have you met the new head ________________?
  13. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  16. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  17. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  18. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  19. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  23. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  24. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — for sculpting
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. fan — to cool the air
  4. patient — calm and waiting
  5. field — farmland
  6. bass — the fish
  7. file — a tool
  8. field — a subject
  9. bass — low music
  10. roll — on a roll
  11. roll — a cake
  12. coach — a trainer
  13. wax — to grow
  14. field — for sport
  15. coach — a trainer
  16. wax — in the ear
  17. fan — a supporter
  18. patient — a sick person
  19. bass — the instrument
  20. file — a document
  21. file — a line of people
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. coach — pulled by horses
  24. roll — a list

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