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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 nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  2. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  9. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  12. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  13. I'll be taking the ________________.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  16. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  17. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  18. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  22. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  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. patient — a sick person
  2. tube — in a tire
  3. hand — help
  4. pitch — a sports field
  5. field — a subject
  6. patient — a sick person
  7. court — for sport
  8. board — a committee
  9. file — a document
  10. hand — in cards
  11. patient — calm and waiting
  12. tube — a container
  13. tube — the underground
  14. field — farmland
  15. board — a flat piece
  16. court — of law
  17. pitch — a sales talk
  18. pitch — completely
  19. file — a line of people
  20. field — for sport
  21. board — to get on
  22. court — of a king
  23. hand — part of the body
  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