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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: bark · patient · stem · drill · field · rock · chest · content

  1. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  4. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  5. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  6. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  7. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  8. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  12. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  17. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  18. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  19. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  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. rock — to move gently
  2. content — the amount
  3. bark — to shout
  4. stem — to come from
  5. content — happy
  6. stem — of a plant
  7. stem — a stem cell
  8. bark — a dog's sound
  9. chest — of your body
  10. field — for sport
  11. drill — army training
  12. patient — a sick person
  13. field — a subject
  14. field — farmland
  15. chest — of your body
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. rock — music
  18. bark — of a tree
  19. drill — a practice
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. drill — the tool
  22. chest — a box
  23. rock — a stone
  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