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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: drill · press · file · net · hand · patient · bat · row

  1. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  2. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  4. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  5. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  12. Did you ________________ the button?
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  16. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  17. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  18. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  19. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  20. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  21. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. I had a ________________ with my boss today.

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

Answer key

  1. press — a publisher
  2. row — a line
  3. net — after costs
  4. press — newspapers
  5. drill — army training
  6. hand — help
  7. hand — in cards
  8. file — a tool
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. bat — the animal
  11. net — in sport
  12. press — to push
  13. file — a line of people
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. row — to paddle
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. drill — a practice
  19. drill — the tool
  20. patient — calm and waiting
  21. net — for catching
  22. file — a document
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. row — a quarrel

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