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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. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  5. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  6. The ball is in your ________________.
  7. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  8. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  11. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  18. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  19. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  23. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — a phone
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. field — farmland
  4. tear — from crying
  5. bank — for money
  6. court — for sport
  7. bank — for money
  8. cell — in biology
  9. tear — to rip
  10. bank — of a river
  11. court — of law
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. field — for sport
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. court — of a king
  16. field — a subject
  17. tear — from crying
  18. chip — in a computer
  19. chip — to eat
  20. mine — for digging
  21. cold — an illness
  22. chip — for betting
  23. mine — belonging to me
  24. cold — not warm

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