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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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468
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: bowl · straw · chest · lean · saw · patient · net · file

  1. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  2. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  3. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  4. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  5. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  6. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  7. He works in a ________________ mill.
  8. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  11. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  14. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  15. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. She's very handy with a ________________.
  21. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  22. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. patient — calm and waiting
  2. lean — to rest against
  3. bowl — a football final
  4. file — a line of people
  5. straw — a straw man
  6. net — for catching
  7. saw — the tool
  8. saw — past of 'see'
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. bowl — a dish
  11. net — after costs
  12. chest — of your body
  13. bowl — to roll
  14. lean — thin
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. chest — a box
  17. chest — of your body
  18. lean — to bend
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. saw — the tool
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. net — in sport
  23. file — a document
  24. file — a tool

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