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

  1. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  2. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  5. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  6. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  7. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  8. That was ________________ to happen.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The ball is in your ________________.
  12. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  13. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  16. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  17. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  22. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  23. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bound — obliged
  2. wave — a sudden rise
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. mouse — the animal
  5. prune — to trim
  6. bound — tied together
  7. prune — the fruit
  8. bound — certain
  9. cold — not warm
  10. cold — an illness
  11. court — for sport
  12. mouse — for a computer
  13. kick — in football
  14. field — farmland
  15. kick — with a leg
  16. prune — to trim
  17. kick — a thrill
  18. field — a subject
  19. mouse — the animal
  20. court — of a king
  21. wave — with your hand
  22. wave — of the sea
  23. court — of law
  24. field — for sport

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