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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: toast · fork · field · capital · kid · scale · land · patient

  1. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  2. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  3. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  11. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  12. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  19. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  20. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  21. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  22. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  2. toast — the most admired
  3. patient — a sick person
  4. land — to come down
  5. fork — to eat with
  6. field — a subject
  7. land — a country
  8. kid — to tease
  9. kid — child
  10. patient — calm and waiting
  11. fork — a garden tool
  12. scale — for weighing
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. field — farmland
  15. capital — money
  16. scale — size or range
  17. capital — a city
  18. toast — bread
  19. patient — a sick person
  20. toast — a drink to someone
  21. land — ground
  22. fork — in a road
  23. field — for sport
  24. scale — in music

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