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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. When are we going to ________________?
  2. He was locked up in a ________________.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  12. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. That was ________________ to happen.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  19. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  24. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. cell — in a prison
  3. field — for sport
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. spring — a coil
  6. land — ground
  7. lie — to recline
  8. spring — of water
  9. field — farmland
  10. cold — not warm
  11. staff — a stick
  12. staff — employees
  13. land — a country
  14. lie — an untruth
  15. field — a subject
  16. bound — certain
  17. cold — an illness
  18. bound — tied together
  19. lie — an untruth
  20. spring — the season
  21. bound — obliged
  22. cell — in biology
  23. cell — a phone
  24. staff — employees

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