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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: mate · branch · patient · wind · chest · bark · lash · field

  1. Have you found your soul ________________?
  2. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  6. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  7. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  10. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  16. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  17. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  20. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  21. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a partner
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. bark — a dog's sound
  4. chest — of your body
  5. patient — calm and waiting
  6. mate — to breed
  7. patient — a sick person
  8. field — a subject
  9. mate — a friend
  10. wind — to turn a key
  11. field — for sport
  12. wind — moving air
  13. branch — a division
  14. chest — of your body
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. lash — an eyelash
  17. bark — to shout
  18. wind — moving air
  19. branch — of a bank
  20. lash — to lash out
  21. branch — of a tree
  22. field — farmland
  23. chest — a box
  24. lash — a whip stroke

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