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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: wound · row · field · bat · patient · march · stick · lie

  1. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  2. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  3. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  4. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  10. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  11. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  12. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  13. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  17. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  20. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. patient — calm and waiting
  2. march — the month
  3. stick — a piece of wood
  4. wound — an injury
  5. wound — an injury
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. field — a subject
  8. bat — the animal
  9. lie — to recline
  10. stick — to attach or keep to
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. stick — a piece of wood
  13. row — a quarrel
  14. row — to paddle
  15. march — the month
  16. lie — an untruth
  17. lie — an untruth
  18. field — for sport
  19. patient — a sick person
  20. row — a line
  21. field — farmland
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. march — music
  24. bat — in an idiom

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