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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: patient · bass · land · mine · pitcher · tube · field · kick

  1. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  2. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  5. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  6. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  7. He is an ace ________________.
  8. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  11. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  12. I'll be taking the ________________.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  15. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  20. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  21. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  22. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. mine — belonging to me
  3. land — a country
  4. kick — in football
  5. mine — an explosive
  6. kick — with a leg
  7. pitcher — in baseball
  8. bass — the fish
  9. land — to come down
  10. kick — a thrill
  11. tube — in a tire
  12. tube — the underground
  13. land — ground
  14. patient — a sick person
  15. bass — the instrument
  16. field — farmland
  17. mine — for digging
  18. field — for sport
  19. pitcher — a jug
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. bass — low music
  22. patient — calm and waiting
  23. field — a subject
  24. tube — a container

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