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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: foot · kid · net · cell · field · board · patient · fan

  1. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  2. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  3. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  4. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  5. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  6. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  7. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  11. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  16. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  23. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. board — a flat piece
  4. foot — part of the body
  5. board — a committee
  6. foot — a measure
  7. fan — a supporter
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. kid — to tease
  10. board — to get on
  11. fan — to cool the air
  12. field — farmland
  13. patient — calm and waiting
  14. cell — a phone
  15. foot — the bottom
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. field — a subject
  19. patient — a sick person
  20. field — for sport
  21. cell — in biology
  22. net — for catching
  23. net — in sport
  24. kid — child

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