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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: fall · kid · field · scale · wound · spring · band · cell

  1. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  2. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  11. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  19. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  20. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. scale — in music
  2. fall — to drop
  3. band — a ring
  4. field — for sport
  5. cell — in biology
  6. wound — an injury
  7. scale — for weighing
  8. spring — the season
  9. kid — to tease
  10. fall — to drop
  11. scale — size or range
  12. field — farmland
  13. field — a subject
  14. kid — child
  15. cell — a phone
  16. spring — a coil
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. band — a music group
  19. band — a rubber band
  20. wound — past of 'wind'
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. spring — of water
  23. fall — the season
  24. wound — an injury

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