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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: pound · file · patient · band · row · chip · court · fork

  1. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  9. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  10. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  11. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  12. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  13. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  14. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  15. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  16. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  17. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  18. The ball is in your ________________.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  21. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  24. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. pound — for dogs
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. pound — a weight
  5. file — a document
  6. band — a rubber band
  7. file — a tool
  8. fork — to eat with
  9. patient — a sick person
  10. pound — to hit hard
  11. fork — a garden tool
  12. court — of law
  13. chip — to eat
  14. patient — a sick person
  15. band — a music group
  16. court — of a king
  17. chip — in a computer
  18. court — for sport
  19. row — to paddle
  20. row — a line
  21. patient — calm and waiting
  22. file — a line of people
  23. chip — for betting
  24. fork — in a road

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