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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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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: mine · field · cold · file · can · march · pitcher · patient

  1. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  2. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  3. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  4. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  5. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  14. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  15. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. He is an ace ________________.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  24. Recycle the empty soda ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. patient — calm and waiting
  2. can — a tin
  3. file — a document
  4. file — a line of people
  5. patient — a sick person
  6. field — for sport
  7. march — the month
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. field — a subject
  10. cold — an illness
  11. march — the month
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. patient — a sick person
  15. march — music
  16. cold — not warm
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. pitcher — in baseball
  19. field — farmland
  20. file — a tool
  21. can — to be able to
  22. mine — for digging
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. can — a tin

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