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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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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: patient · bat · board · row · craft · field · band · safe

  1. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  5. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  6. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  7. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  8. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  9. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  10. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  13. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  16. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  17. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  22. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  23. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. band — a ring
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. safe — out of danger
  5. patient — calm and waiting
  6. craft — a skill
  7. board — a flat piece
  8. craft — boats
  9. board — to get on
  10. safe — a strongbox
  11. bat — the animal
  12. patient — a sick person
  13. band — a music group
  14. field — for sport
  15. row — a quarrel
  16. board — a committee
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. row — to paddle
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. craft — a handicraft
  22. row — a line
  23. safe — out of danger
  24. field — a subject

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