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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: tube · kid · mine · court · trunk · file · field · patient

  1. I'll be taking the ________________.
  2. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  3. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. The ball is in your ________________.
  11. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  23. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  24. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — the underground
  2. patient — a sick person
  3. trunk — of a tree
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. patient — calm and waiting
  6. kid — child
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. field — a subject
  9. kid — to tease
  10. court — for sport
  11. tube — in a tire
  12. mine — for digging
  13. tube — a container
  14. field — for sport
  15. trunk — of an elephant
  16. file — a line of people
  17. trunk — of a car
  18. file — a document
  19. file — a tool
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. court — of a king
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. field — farmland
  24. court — of law

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