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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: chair · lie · staff · file · shower · mine · patient · can

  1. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  2. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  4. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  5. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  6. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  7. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  8. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  9. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  10. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  11. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  12. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  13. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  14. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  15. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  16. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  17. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  18. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. patient — calm and waiting
  2. mine — belonging to me
  3. mine — an explosive
  4. chair — a professorship
  5. staff — employees
  6. staff — employees
  7. lie — an untruth
  8. can — to be able to
  9. file — a tool
  10. patient — a sick person
  11. staff — a stick
  12. lie — an untruth
  13. can — a tin
  14. chair — a leader
  15. can — a tin
  16. mine — for digging
  17. lie — to recline
  18. chair — to sit on
  19. file — a document
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. shower — to wash
  23. shower — rain
  24. file — a line of people

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