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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 116 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: fall · patient · row · chip · net · clip · field · mine

  1. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  8. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  9. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  10. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  14. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  15. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  16. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  17. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  22. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. mine — belonging to me
  3. row — a line
  4. row — to paddle
  5. clip — for paper
  6. field — farmland
  7. net — in sport
  8. patient — a sick person
  9. chip — in a computer
  10. net — for catching
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. patient — calm and waiting
  14. fall — to drop
  15. net — after costs
  16. mine — for digging
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. clip — to cut
  19. fall — to drop
  20. clip — a video
  21. fall — the season
  22. chip — for betting
  23. field — for sport
  24. chip — to eat

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