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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: land · drill · bore · track · patient · date · tube · cold

  1. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  3. I'll be taking the ________________.
  4. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  5. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  6. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  7. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  8. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  9. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  12. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  13. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  14. Have you settled on a ________________?
  15. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  16. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  17. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  18. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. When are we going to ________________?
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  23. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  24. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. patient — a sick person
  3. tube — the underground
  4. track — a song
  5. land — ground
  6. track — a path
  7. bore — to tire
  8. tube — a container
  9. tube — in a tire
  10. land — a country
  11. date — on the calendar
  12. bore — to drill
  13. drill — army training
  14. date — on the calendar
  15. date — the fruit
  16. drill — the tool
  17. track — to keep track
  18. drill — a practice
  19. cold — not warm
  20. land — to come down
  21. cold — an illness
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. patient — calm and waiting
  24. bore — gave birth

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