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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 120 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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. I can't ________________ this cold.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  8. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  9. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  15. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  16. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. stand — to bear
  2. field — for sport
  3. cell — in biology
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. branch — of a tree
  6. cell — a phone
  7. stand — for spectators
  8. stand — on your feet
  9. branch — a division
  10. field — farmland
  11. branch — of a bank
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. mine — for digging
  14. stem — to come from
  15. stem — a stem cell
  16. stem — of a plant
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. field — a subject

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