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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. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  3. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  4. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  7. Don't do anything ________________.
  8. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  9. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  15. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  16. When are we going to ________________?
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. file — a tool
  3. patient — calm and waiting
  4. file — a line of people
  5. file — a document
  6. hand — part of the body
  7. rash — hasty
  8. prune — to trim
  9. prune — to trim
  10. field — farmland
  11. rash — a series
  12. hand — help
  13. land — ground
  14. rash — on the skin
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. land — to come down
  17. clip — a video
  18. hand — in cards
  19. field — for sport
  20. prune — the fruit
  21. clip — to cut
  22. field — a subject
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. clip — for paper

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