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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: file · band · mine · land · date · squash · patient · pit

  1. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  2. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  7. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  8. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  11. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  12. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  15. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  18. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  19. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  20. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  21. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. Have you settled on a ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. patient — a sick person
  2. pit — a hole
  3. land — ground
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. file — a tool
  6. file — a line of people
  7. pit — in a race
  8. band — a ring
  9. mine — for digging
  10. patient — calm and waiting
  11. squash — the vegetable
  12. date — the fruit
  13. file — a document
  14. patient — a sick person
  15. date — on the calendar
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. squash — to crush
  18. band — a rubber band
  19. band — a music group
  20. squash — the sport
  21. pit — a fruit stone
  22. land — a country
  23. land — to come down
  24. date — on the calendar

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