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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: lie · field · chest · cold · bulb · club

  1. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  2. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  3. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  4. I've got to change the light ________________.
  5. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  16. The light ________________ burned out.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. club — for golf
  3. club — a group
  4. bulb — for light
  5. club — for dancing
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. lie — an untruth
  8. cold — not warm
  9. lie — an untruth
  10. chest — a box
  11. chest — of your body
  12. field — for sport
  13. cold — an illness
  14. field — farmland
  15. bulb — of a plant
  16. bulb — for light
  17. field — a subject
  18. lie — to recline

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