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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: patient · bark · cell · field · wound · ground · wake · deal

  1. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  5. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  8. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  11. He was locked up in a ________________.
  12. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  13. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  14. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  15. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  16. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  17. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  20. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. There's no middle ________________.
  23. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  24. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. deal — to handle
  3. wound — an injury
  4. patient — calm and waiting
  5. deal — a big deal
  6. field — farmland
  7. deal — an agreement
  8. patient — a sick person
  9. field — for sport
  10. bark — to shout
  11. cell — in a prison
  12. wound — an injury
  13. ground — crushed
  14. wake — to stop sleeping
  15. wake — before a funeral
  16. bark — of a tree
  17. cell — a phone
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. ground — the earth
  20. bark — a dog's sound
  21. cell — in biology
  22. ground — a position
  23. wake — a trail
  24. patient — a sick person

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