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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: chest · wound · bound · field · mouse · ball · board · row

  1. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. That was ________________ to happen.
  3. The King held a masked ________________.
  4. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  7. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  8. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  9. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  10. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  11. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  16. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  19. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  20. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  24. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. bound — certain
  3. ball — a dance
  4. mouse — for a computer
  5. chest — a box
  6. mouse — the animal
  7. wound — an injury
  8. bound — tied together
  9. row — a line
  10. board — a committee
  11. ball — a great time
  12. field — for sport
  13. board — to get on
  14. chest — of your body
  15. chest — of your body
  16. bound — obliged
  17. field — a subject
  18. mouse — the animal
  19. ball — a round shape
  20. row — a quarrel
  21. row — to paddle
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. board — a flat piece
  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