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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 · kid · wind · patient · wake · chest · field · bass

  1. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  4. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  5. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  6. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  12. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  13. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  16. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  20. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  24. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. patient — calm and waiting
  2. kid — child
  3. rock — to move gently
  4. wake — a trail
  5. wake — to stop sleeping
  6. patient — a sick person
  7. chest — of your body
  8. field — a subject
  9. rock — music
  10. field — for sport
  11. rock — a stone
  12. patient — a sick person
  13. bass — low music
  14. kid — to tease
  15. bass — the instrument
  16. wind — moving air
  17. chest — a box
  18. chest — of your body
  19. wind — to turn a key
  20. wake — before a funeral
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. wind — moving air
  23. field — farmland
  24. bass — the fish

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