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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. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. I'll be taking the ________________.
  4. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  5. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  6. That must've been a ________________.
  7. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  11. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  12. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  17. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  20. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  21. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  22. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  23. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — to hurry
  2. wind — moving air
  3. tube — the underground
  4. patient — calm and waiting
  5. bass — the instrument
  6. rush — a thrill
  7. deal — to handle
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. field — for sport
  10. deal — an agreement
  11. tube — a container
  12. bass — the fish
  13. wind — moving air
  14. deal — a big deal
  15. field — a subject
  16. rush — hurry
  17. bass — low music
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. mine — for digging
  20. tube — in a tire
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. mine — belonging to me
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. field — farmland

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