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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 120 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 information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  2. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  3. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  4. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  5. David sat on the ________________.
  6. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  13. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  14. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  17. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  19. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  20. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a document
  2. row — a quarrel
  3. file — a tool
  4. row — to paddle
  5. swing — to play on
  6. patient — a sick person
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. stem — to come from
  9. capital — money
  10. stem — of a plant
  11. land — to come down
  12. patient — calm and waiting
  13. game — wild animals
  14. stem — a stem cell
  15. game — a match
  16. row — a line
  17. swing — in golf
  18. game — a kind of play
  19. patient — a sick person
  20. swing — music
  21. capital — a city
  22. land — ground
  23. file — a line of people
  24. land — a country

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