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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: patient · last · pop · mine · nail · stand · file · capital

  1. False peace will not ________________.
  2. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  3. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  4. We're almost out of ________________.
  5. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  6. I can't ________________ this cold.
  7. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  8. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  9. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  10. You don't need to ________________ round.
  11. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  12. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  13. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  16. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. The ________________ went through the wall.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. last — to go on
  2. patient — calm and waiting
  3. nail — for a hammer
  4. pop — soda
  5. last — final
  6. stand — to bear
  7. last — finally
  8. pop — music
  9. mine — belonging to me
  10. pop — to visit
  11. file — a line of people
  12. patient — a sick person
  13. patient — a sick person
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. nail — on a finger
  16. stand — on your feet
  17. mine — for digging
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. capital — a city
  20. capital — money
  21. nail — for a hammer
  22. file — a document
  23. file — a tool
  24. stand — for spectators

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