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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 116 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 · cell · patient · squash · stock · shower · saw · file

  1. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. He was locked up in a ________________.
  4. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  5. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  6. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  12. The ________________ market has crashed.
  13. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. He works in a ________________ mill.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  20. She's very handy with a ________________.
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — a soup base
  2. land — a country
  3. cell — in a prison
  4. squash — the vegetable
  5. squash — the sport
  6. shower — rain
  7. land — ground
  8. file — a tool
  9. patient — a sick person
  10. file — a line of people
  11. patient — calm and waiting
  12. stock — shares
  13. patient — a sick person
  14. cell — a phone
  15. file — a document
  16. cell — in biology
  17. saw — the tool
  18. land — to come down
  19. stock — goods
  20. saw — the tool
  21. shower — to wash
  22. saw — past of 'see'
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. squash — to crush

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