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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: shower · snap · field · tube · lie · last · pitch · patient

  1. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  2. I'll be taking the ________________.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  5. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  8. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  11. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  12. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  13. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  18. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  19. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  20. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  21. False peace will not ________________.
  22. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  23. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. patient — a sick person
  2. tube — the underground
  3. shower — rain
  4. tube — in a tire
  5. lie — an untruth
  6. shower — to wash
  7. pitch — completely
  8. lie — an untruth
  9. field — farmland
  10. pitch — a sports field
  11. pitch — a sales talk
  12. snap — to click
  13. tube — a container
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. snap — to snap out of it
  16. field — a subject
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. last — final
  19. patient — calm and waiting
  20. lie — to recline
  21. last — to go on
  22. last — finally
  23. snap — to speak sharply
  24. field — for sport

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