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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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  4. He was locked up in a ________________.
  5. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. That was ________________ to happen.
  8. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  9. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  15. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  16. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  19. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  20. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  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. field — farmland
  2. court — for sport
  3. present — a gift
  4. cell — in a prison
  5. cell — a phone
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. bound — certain
  8. court — of law
  9. bound — tied together
  10. spring — the season
  11. bound — obliged
  12. spring — of water
  13. mine — for digging
  14. firm — steady
  15. firm — a company
  16. present — there
  17. cell — in biology
  18. spring — a coil
  19. present — the time now
  20. firm — decided
  21. court — of a king
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. field — for sport
  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