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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

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

Word bank: straw · race · tear · spring · bat · field · bound · patient

  1. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  6. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  7. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  8. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  9. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  10. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  23. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  24. That was ________________ to happen.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. straw — dry grass
  3. bat — the animal
  4. field — farmland
  5. race — humankind
  6. tear — from crying
  7. tear — from crying
  8. patient — calm and waiting
  9. patient — a sick person
  10. race — a contest
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. bound — tied together
  13. spring — the season
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. bound — obliged
  17. spring — a coil
  18. spring — of water
  19. race — the arms race
  20. field — for sport
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. tear — to rip
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. bound — certain

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