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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: cold · bank · file · row · staff · fall · mine · patient

  1. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  5. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  6. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  7. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  10. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  15. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  18. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  24. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. fall — to drop
  3. cold — not warm
  4. staff — a stick
  5. row — to paddle
  6. patient — a sick person
  7. patient — calm and waiting
  8. mine — for digging
  9. bank — for money
  10. bank — for money
  11. file — a document
  12. file — a tool
  13. file — a line of people
  14. fall — the season
  15. bank — of a river
  16. cold — an illness
  17. staff — employees
  18. fall — to drop
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. staff — employees
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. row — a line
  24. patient — a sick person

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