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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: bank · wax · spring · ball · field · hide · stick · cold

  1. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  2. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  3. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  6. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  7. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  8. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  17. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  18. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  22. The King held a masked ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.

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

Answer key

  1. bank — for money
  2. hide — to keep secret
  3. hide — animal skin
  4. field — farmland
  5. bank — for money
  6. stick — a piece of wood
  7. ball — a round shape
  8. ball — a great time
  9. field — a subject
  10. bank — of a river
  11. cold — not warm
  12. cold — an illness
  13. spring — a coil
  14. stick — a piece of wood
  15. field — for sport
  16. hide — to keep secret
  17. wax — for sculpting
  18. wax — to grow
  19. spring — of water
  20. spring — the season
  21. wax — in the ear
  22. ball — a dance
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. stick — to attach or keep to

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