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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: stick · straw · field · spell · court · cold · fall · mine

  1. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  6. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  7. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  8. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  14. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  15. The ball is in your ________________.
  16. How do you ________________ your surname?
  17. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  24. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. cold — an illness
  3. court — of a king
  4. mine — for digging
  5. stick — a piece of wood
  6. court — of law
  7. spell — magic
  8. stick — to attach or keep to
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. field — a subject
  11. cold — not warm
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. spell — a short time
  14. stick — a piece of wood
  15. court — for sport
  16. spell — letters
  17. fall — the season
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. field — for sport
  20. field — farmland
  21. fall — to drop
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. mine — belonging to me
  24. fall — to drop

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