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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.

Words on the sheet
468
Word bank
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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. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  2. He was locked up in a ________________.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  9. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  10. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  11. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  17. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  18. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  21. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  22. How do you ________________ your surname?
  23. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  24. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.

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

Answer key

  1. patient — calm and waiting
  2. cell — in a prison
  3. field — farmland
  4. cell — a phone
  5. hide — to keep secret
  6. kid — child
  7. field — a subject
  8. fork — in a road
  9. march — music
  10. fork — to eat with
  11. fork — a garden tool
  12. field — for sport
  13. cell — in biology
  14. march — the month
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. spell — magic
  17. spell — a short time
  18. hide — animal skin
  19. kid — to tease
  20. hide — to keep secret
  21. march — the month
  22. spell — letters
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. patient — a sick person

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