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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: date · mine · wind · ball · spell · track · field · rule

  1. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  2. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  5. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  6. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  7. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. Have you settled on a ________________?
  10. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  11. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. How do you ________________ your surname?
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  17. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  18. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  19. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  20. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  21. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  22. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. The King held a masked ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — a short time
  2. ball — a great time
  3. field — farmland
  4. date — on the calendar
  5. wind — moving air
  6. track — to keep track
  7. date — the fruit
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. date — on the calendar
  10. rule — a law
  11. ball — a round shape
  12. field — a subject
  13. mine — for digging
  14. spell — letters
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. track — a path
  17. wind — to turn a key
  18. spell — magic
  19. wind — moving air
  20. rule — to rule out
  21. rule — government
  22. track — a song
  23. field — for sport
  24. ball — a dance

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