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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. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  2. That was ________________ to happen.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. How do you ________________ your surname?
  5. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  6. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  18. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  19. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  20. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  23. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  24. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — magic
  2. bound — certain
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. spell — letters
  5. bound — obliged
  6. bear — to put up with
  7. field — a subject
  8. bear — the animal
  9. field — farmland
  10. cold — an illness
  11. spring — a coil
  12. spring — of water
  13. bear — the animal
  14. spring — the season
  15. board — a flat piece
  16. cold — not warm
  17. wind — moving air
  18. board — a committee
  19. wind — moving air
  20. board — to get on
  21. field — for sport
  22. wind — to turn a key
  23. bound — tied together
  24. spell — a short time

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