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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: spell · field · row · game · cold · bear · lash · ball

  1. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  3. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  6. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  7. How do you ________________ your surname?
  8. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  12. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  13. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. The King held a masked ________________.
  16. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  17. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  18. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  23. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. spell — a short time
  3. bear — the animal
  4. cold — an illness
  5. ball — a round shape
  6. spell — magic
  7. spell — letters
  8. ball — a great time
  9. field — for sport
  10. game — a match
  11. lash — to lash out
  12. bear — to put up with
  13. row — to paddle
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. ball — a dance
  16. row — a quarrel
  17. bear — the animal
  18. lash — an eyelash
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. game — wild animals
  21. cold — not warm
  22. lash — a whip stroke
  23. row — a line
  24. field — farmland

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