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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: bat · rock · mine · field · tear · drill · patient · hand

  1. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  2. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  3. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  14. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  17. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  20. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  23. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  24. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — in cards
  2. patient — a sick person
  3. drill — army training
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. bat — the animal
  6. rock — a stone
  7. field — farmland
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. tear — to rip
  12. tear — from crying
  13. rock — to move gently
  14. patient — a sick person
  15. field — a subject
  16. hand — help
  17. tear — from crying
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. patient — calm and waiting
  20. rock — music
  21. field — for sport
  22. drill — a practice
  23. mine — for digging
  24. drill — the tool

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