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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: press · kid · patient · mine · row · content · land · bark

  1. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  2. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. Did you ________________ the button?
  7. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  12. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  13. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  14. When are we going to ________________?
  15. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  16. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  22. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  23. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  24. She's sitting on a gold ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. patient — a sick person
  2. patient — calm and waiting
  3. land — a country
  4. content — videos and posts
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. press — to push
  7. row — to paddle
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. bark — a dog's sound
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. bark — to shout
  12. row — a line
  13. press — a publisher
  14. land — to come down
  15. press — newspapers
  16. bark — of a tree
  17. land — ground
  18. kid — to tease
  19. content — happy
  20. kid — child
  21. mine — an explosive
  22. content — the amount
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. mine — for digging

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