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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: rock · pop · cold · tear · patient · land · field · branch

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  10. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  11. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  14. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  19. You don't need to ________________ round.
  20. We're almost out of ________________.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. land — a country
  3. rock — to move gently
  4. cold — not warm
  5. field — a subject
  6. field — for sport
  7. tear — from crying
  8. field — farmland
  9. branch — of a tree
  10. rock — a stone
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. tear — from crying
  13. patient — calm and waiting
  14. branch — a division
  15. land — to come down
  16. pop — music
  17. land — ground
  18. branch — of a bank
  19. pop — to visit
  20. pop — soda
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. tear — to rip
  24. rock — music

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