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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: press · rest · present · capital · field · patient · foot · file

  1. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  4. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  5. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  8. Did you ________________ the button?
  9. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  18. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  19. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  20. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  21. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.

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

Answer key

  1. present — there
  2. field — for sport
  3. patient — a sick person
  4. foot — a measure
  5. rest — what's left
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. patient — a sick person
  8. press — to push
  9. press — a publisher
  10. field — a subject
  11. patient — calm and waiting
  12. capital — a city
  13. field — farmland
  14. foot — part of the body
  15. file — a tool
  16. file — a line of people
  17. rest — a break
  18. present — a gift
  19. rest — what's left
  20. foot — the bottom
  21. press — newspapers
  22. file — a document
  23. capital — money
  24. present — the time now

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