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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: file · rush · cold · wake · field · band · cell · charge

  1. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. The tickets are free of ________________.
  3. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  4. That must've been a ________________.
  5. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  8. He was locked up in a ________________.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  15. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  18. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. Where can I ________________ my mobile?

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. charge — a price
  3. wake — a trail
  4. rush — a thrill
  5. rush — to hurry
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. cell — in biology
  8. cell — in a prison
  9. cold — not warm
  10. rush — hurry
  11. file — a tool
  12. cell — a phone
  13. field — a subject
  14. band — a ring
  15. band — a rubber band
  16. file — a line of people
  17. band — a music group
  18. wake — to stop sleeping
  19. field — for sport
  20. charge — in control
  21. file — a document
  22. wake — before a funeral
  23. cold — an illness
  24. charge — electricity

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