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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: field · mine · file · plane · rush · degree · press · patient

  1. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  3. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  9. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  10. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  11. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  12. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. That must've been a ________________.
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  17. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  18. The ________________ took off on time.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  21. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. Did you ________________ the button?
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. rush — hurry
  3. mine — an explosive
  4. degree — temperature
  5. press — newspapers
  6. mine — for digging
  7. file — a line of people
  8. patient — a sick person
  9. file — a tool
  10. rush — to hurry
  11. plane — in geometry
  12. plane — a tool
  13. degree — from a university
  14. rush — a thrill
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. patient — calm and waiting
  17. degree — an amount
  18. plane — an aircraft
  19. field — for sport
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. press — a publisher
  22. file — a document
  23. press — to push
  24. field — farmland

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