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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: cold · craft · bat · track · leaves · field · patient · mine

  1. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  10. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  18. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  19. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  20. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  21. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  24. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. mine — belonging to me
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. patient — a sick person
  6. mine — for digging
  7. bat — the animal
  8. cold — an illness
  9. craft — a handicraft
  10. leaves — of a tree
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. track — a path
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. field — farmland
  15. leaves — to go away
  16. cold — not warm
  17. leaves — lets stay
  18. patient — a sick person
  19. track — to keep track
  20. craft — a skill
  21. craft — boats
  22. field — for sport
  23. track — a song
  24. patient — calm and waiting

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