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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: mate · chest · patient · field · cold · drill · race · chip

  1. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  2. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  7. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  8. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  9. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  10. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  14. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  17. Have you found your soul ________________?
  18. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  19. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  23. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chip — in a computer
  2. drill — army training
  3. chest — of your body
  4. race — a contest
  5. cold — an illness
  6. race — the arms race
  7. race — humankind
  8. chest — a box
  9. drill — a practice
  10. chip — to eat
  11. field — a subject
  12. field — farmland
  13. mate — a friend
  14. patient — a sick person
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. chip — for betting
  17. mate — a partner
  18. patient — a sick person
  19. patient — calm and waiting
  20. chest — of your body
  21. cold — not warm
  22. drill — the tool
  23. mate — to breed
  24. field — for sport

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