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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 farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  2. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  3. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  4. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  7. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. Have you settled on a ________________?
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  14. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  15. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. Did you ________________ the button?
  18. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  19. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  20. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. patient — calm and waiting
  2. patient — a sick person
  3. tear — from crying
  4. date — on the calendar
  5. field — farmland
  6. press — a publisher
  7. press — newspapers
  8. land — to come down
  9. hand — in cards
  10. hand — help
  11. date — on the calendar
  12. tear — from crying
  13. fall — to drop
  14. land — a country
  15. fall — the season
  16. field — for sport
  17. press — to push
  18. fall — to drop
  19. patient — a sick person
  20. date — the fruit
  21. field — a subject
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. tear — to rip
  24. land — ground

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