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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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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 · racket · content · field · snap · patient · ground · wind

  1. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  3. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  4. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  5. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  8. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  9. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  10. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  11. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  12. There's no middle ________________.
  13. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  18. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. rock — to move gently
  3. snap — to snap out of it
  4. snap — to click
  5. patient — calm and waiting
  6. wind — moving air
  7. rock — music
  8. rock — a stone
  9. patient — a sick person
  10. racket — a loud noise
  11. ground — the earth
  12. ground — a position
  13. racket — for tennis
  14. content — the amount
  15. snap — to speak sharply
  16. wind — moving air
  17. content — happy
  18. ground — crushed
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. wind — to turn a key
  21. field — farmland
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. field — for sport
  24. racket — for tennis

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