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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 116 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. That was a fun ________________.
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. That was ________________ to happen.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  10. False peace will not ________________.
  11. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  14. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  15. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  16. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  17. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  21. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. 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. game — a match
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. wake — to stop sleeping
  4. mine — for digging
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. bound — certain
  7. game — wild animals
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. last — finally
  10. last — to go on
  11. lean — to rest against
  12. cold — not warm
  13. last — final
  14. bound — obliged
  15. wake — before a funeral
  16. bound — tied together
  17. wake — a trail
  18. field — for sport
  19. cold — an illness
  20. lean — to bend
  21. lean — thin
  22. field — farmland
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. 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