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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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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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  4. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  5. She's very handy with a ________________.
  6. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  7. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  8. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  9. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  10. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  11. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  12. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  13. Have you found your soul ________________?
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. He works in a ________________ mill.
  18. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  19. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  20. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. patient — calm and waiting
  2. hand — help
  3. patient — a sick person
  4. patient — a sick person
  5. saw — the tool
  6. scale — size or range
  7. chest — of your body
  8. chest — a box
  9. root — the cause
  10. root — of a word
  11. scale — for weighing
  12. mate — to breed
  13. mate — a partner
  14. field — farmland
  15. scale — in music
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. saw — the tool
  18. root — of a plant
  19. saw — past of 'see'
  20. mate — a friend
  21. field — for sport
  22. chest — of your body
  23. hand — in cards
  24. field — a subject

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