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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: row · game · fall · land · mine · patient · pitcher · shower

  1. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  2. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  3. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  4. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  5. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  9. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  10. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. He is an ace ________________.
  16. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  17. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  18. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  19. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  20. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  21. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — an explosive
  2. patient — a sick person
  3. game — a kind of play
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. shower — a meteor shower
  6. land — ground
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. patient — calm and waiting
  9. fall — to drop
  10. mine — for digging
  11. shower — rain
  12. game — a match
  13. row — a quarrel
  14. row — a line
  15. pitcher — in baseball
  16. game — wild animals
  17. row — to paddle
  18. shower — to wash
  19. fall — to drop
  20. pitcher — a jug
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. land — to come down
  23. land — a country
  24. fall — the season

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