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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: mine · rush · scale · shower · patient · field · wake · content

  1. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  4. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  5. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  6. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  7. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  8. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  9. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  13. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  14. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  19. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  22. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  23. That must've been a ________________.
  24. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — for digging
  2. field — for sport
  3. rush — to hurry
  4. patient — calm and waiting
  5. shower — a meteor shower
  6. content — videos and posts
  7. patient — a sick person
  8. patient — a sick person
  9. scale — for weighing
  10. field — a subject
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. content — the amount
  13. scale — in music
  14. rush — hurry
  15. shower — rain
  16. shower — to wash
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. wake — to stop sleeping
  19. scale — size or range
  20. field — farmland
  21. wake — a trail
  22. wake — before a funeral
  23. rush — a thrill
  24. content — happy

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