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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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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. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  4. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  5. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  6. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  7. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  8. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  9. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  10. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  11. I'll be taking the ________________.
  12. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  13. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  14. How do you ________________ your surname?
  15. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  16. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  19. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  20. It's one o'clock ________________.
  21. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  24. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. field — farmland
  3. tube — in a tire
  4. patient — a sick person
  5. spell — magic
  6. board — to get on
  7. patient — calm and waiting
  8. wound — past of 'wind'
  9. wound — an injury
  10. board — a flat piece
  11. tube — the underground
  12. sharp — clever
  13. sharp — with an edge
  14. spell — letters
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. tube — a container
  17. field — for sport
  18. board — a committee
  19. march — music
  20. sharp — exactly
  21. march — the month
  22. march — the month
  23. spell — a short time
  24. wound — an injury

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