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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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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: cold · rule · file · patient · cell · net · drill · staff

  1. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  2. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  5. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  6. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  10. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  11. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  12. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  13. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  14. He was locked up in a ________________.
  15. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  16. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  17. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  18. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  22. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.

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

Answer key

  1. patient — calm and waiting
  2. patient — a sick person
  3. cold — an illness
  4. drill — a practice
  5. file — a line of people
  6. drill — army training
  7. cold — not warm
  8. file — a document
  9. net — after costs
  10. net — in sport
  11. staff — employees
  12. net — for catching
  13. patient — a sick person
  14. cell — in a prison
  15. rule — government
  16. staff — employees
  17. staff — a stick
  18. cell — a phone
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. file — a tool
  21. rule — a law
  22. rule — to rule out
  23. cell — in biology
  24. drill — the tool

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