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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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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: cell · content · tear · court · field · cold · bay · mark

  1. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  4. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  10. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  11. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. The ball is in your ________________.
  17. My mare is ________________ in color.
  18. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. He was locked up in a ________________.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. field — farmland
  3. mark — to pay attention
  4. court — of law
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. tear — from crying
  7. bay — a part of the sea
  8. content — happy
  9. mark — a grade
  10. bay — to keep at bay
  11. cell — a phone
  12. court — of a king
  13. tear — to rip
  14. cell — in biology
  15. cold — not warm
  16. court — for sport
  17. bay — a horse colour
  18. mark — a trace
  19. field — for sport
  20. field — a subject
  21. tear — from crying
  22. cold — an illness
  23. cell — in a prison
  24. content — the amount

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