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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: mate · band · wind · patient · last · fall · file · chair

  1. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. Have you found your soul ________________?
  3. False peace will not ________________.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  6. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  7. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  8. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  9. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  10. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  11. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  15. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  16. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  17. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  20. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  21. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  22. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  24. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. mate — a partner
  3. last — to go on
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. wind — moving air
  6. mate — a friend
  7. patient — calm and waiting
  8. patient — a sick person
  9. fall — the season
  10. mate — to breed
  11. chair — a professorship
  12. file — a tool
  13. file — a document
  14. band — a ring
  15. fall — to drop
  16. band — a music group
  17. fall — to drop
  18. file — a line of people
  19. patient — a sick person
  20. chair — a leader
  21. last — finally
  22. chair — to sit on
  23. wind — moving air
  24. band — a rubber band

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