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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: swing · hand · field · patient · kid · bass · chest · temple

  1. When was this ________________ built?
  2. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  4. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  5. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  6. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  15. David sat on the ________________.
  16. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  17. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  20. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  23. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. temple — a place of worship
  2. hand — in cards
  3. swing — in golf
  4. patient — calm and waiting
  5. bass — the fish
  6. temple — a place of worship
  7. field — for sport
  8. kid — to tease
  9. field — farmland
  10. chest — a box
  11. chest — of your body
  12. patient — a sick person
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. temple — side of the head
  15. swing — to play on
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. bass — the instrument
  18. field — a subject
  19. chest — of your body
  20. bass — low music
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. hand — help
  23. swing — music
  24. kid — child

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