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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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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  6. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  7. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. What do you think of the new ________________?
  10. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  11. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  12. Don't do anything ________________.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  15. He is an ace ________________.
  16. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  17. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  18. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  19. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  20. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  21. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  22. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  23. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  24. We were using a ________________ as a seat.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. field — a subject
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. field — for sport
  5. patient — calm and waiting
  6. rock — music
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. kid — child
  9. cabinet — ministers
  10. march — the month
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. rash — hasty
  13. kid — to tease
  14. cabinet — ministers
  15. pitcher — in baseball
  16. cabinet — a cupboard
  17. rock — to move gently
  18. rash — on the skin
  19. rash — a series
  20. march — music
  21. march — the month
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. rock — a stone

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