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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. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  2. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  3. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  4. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  5. That was ________________ to happen.
  6. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  11. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. What do you think of the new ________________?
  20. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  21. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  22. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  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. fall — the season
  2. bound — obliged
  3. fall — to drop
  4. branch — of a bank
  5. bound — certain
  6. branch — of a tree
  7. field — for sport
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. capital — money
  10. cabinet — a cupboard
  11. bound — tied together
  12. cold — an illness
  13. cold — not warm
  14. bat — the animal
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. field — farmland
  18. capital — a city
  19. cabinet — ministers
  20. branch — a division
  21. fall — to drop
  22. cabinet — ministers
  23. capital — a big letter
  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