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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: ground · land · mouse · hand · tear · file · bass · patient

  1. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  6. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  11. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. There's no middle ________________.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  18. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  24. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — the earth
  2. land — a country
  3. bass — the instrument
  4. hand — help
  5. mouse — for a computer
  6. bass — the fish
  7. file — a tool
  8. mouse — the animal
  9. land — to come down
  10. tear — to rip
  11. ground — crushed
  12. tear — from crying
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. file — a line of people
  15. ground — a position
  16. file — a document
  17. mouse — the animal
  18. bass — low music
  19. land — ground
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. hand — in cards
  22. tear — from crying
  23. patient — calm and waiting
  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