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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: content · game · coach · patient · drill · row · branch · field

  1. That was a fun ________________.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  4. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  5. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  6. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  7. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  8. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  9. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  10. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  11. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  12. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  13. Have you met the new head ________________?
  14. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  15. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  16. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  23. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  24. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. content — happy
  3. drill — a practice
  4. branch — of a tree
  5. patient — a sick person
  6. content — the amount
  7. row — a line
  8. coach — a trainer
  9. row — a quarrel
  10. drill — the tool
  11. coach — pulled by horses
  12. patient — calm and waiting
  13. coach — a trainer
  14. branch — of a bank
  15. drill — army training
  16. game — wild animals
  17. field — a subject
  18. field — for sport
  19. branch — a division
  20. row — to paddle
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. field — farmland
  24. game — a kind of play

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