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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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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: file · field · key · land · patient · mouse · race · snap

  1. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. When are we going to ________________?
  3. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  6. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  9. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  10. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  11. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  12. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  13. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  14. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  15. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  16. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  17. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  18. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  21. This piece is in a major ________________.
  22. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. land — to come down
  3. file — a tool
  4. land — a country
  5. snap — to click
  6. file — a line of people
  7. file — a document
  8. patient — calm and waiting
  9. key — for a lock
  10. mouse — for a computer
  11. snap — to snap out of it
  12. race — the arms race
  13. key — the most important part
  14. mouse — the animal
  15. race — humankind
  16. mouse — the animal
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. race — a contest
  19. field — for sport
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. key — in music
  22. snap — to speak sharply
  23. field — a subject
  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