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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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. Have you met the new head ________________?
  3. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  11. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  12. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  15. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  16. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  17. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  18. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  19. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  22. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  23. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  24. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. coach — a trainer
  3. bank — for money
  4. wound — an injury
  5. cold — an illness
  6. cold — not warm
  7. deal — to handle
  8. field — for sport
  9. field — a subject
  10. pass — a permit
  11. deal — a big deal
  12. bank — for money
  13. wound — an injury
  14. coach — pulled by horses
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. patient — calm and waiting
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. pass — to succeed
  19. wound — past of 'wind'
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. deal — an agreement
  22. bank — of a river
  23. coach — a trainer
  24. pass — to spend time

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