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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: field · cold · spell · spring · rest · capital · vault · mate

  1. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  5. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. How do you ________________ your surname?
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  10. Have you found your soul ________________?
  11. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  12. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  13. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  14. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  15. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  24. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. cold — an illness
  3. capital — money
  4. vault — a safe
  5. spell — a short time
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. spell — letters
  8. cold — not warm
  9. mate — a friend
  10. mate — a partner
  11. vault — in gymnastics
  12. spring — a coil
  13. mate — to breed
  14. vault — an arched ceiling
  15. rest — what's left
  16. spring — the season
  17. field — for sport
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. field — farmland
  20. rest — a break
  21. capital — a city
  22. spring — of water
  23. spell — magic
  24. rest — what's left

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