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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 120 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: kid · patient · mine · bat · chair · cabinet · field · rule

  1. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  4. What do you think of the new ________________?
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  9. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  14. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  17. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  20. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  21. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. rule — government
  2. kid — child
  3. cabinet — a cupboard
  4. cabinet — ministers
  5. bat — the animal
  6. rule — a law
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. cabinet — ministers
  9. mine — belonging to me
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. field — for sport
  13. chair — a leader
  14. patient — calm and waiting
  15. field — a subject
  16. mine — for digging
  17. rule — to rule out
  18. field — farmland
  19. patient — a sick person
  20. chair — a professorship
  21. chair — to sit on
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. kid — to tease
  24. bat — in an idiom

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