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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 124 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: ball · chest · fork · track · stem · cold · field · pound

  1. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  10. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  11. The King held a masked ________________.
  12. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  15. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  16. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  19. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  20. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  21. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. cold — not warm
  3. stem — of a plant
  4. field — for sport
  5. fork — to eat with
  6. chest — of your body
  7. ball — a great time
  8. chest — of your body
  9. track — to keep track
  10. track — a song
  11. ball — a dance
  12. pound — for dogs
  13. field — farmland
  14. ball — a round shape
  15. stem — to come from
  16. pound — a weight
  17. chest — a box
  18. fork — in a road
  19. track — a path
  20. pound — to hit hard
  21. fork — a garden tool
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. cold — an illness
  24. stem — a stem cell

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