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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: band · field · last · present · content · cell · row · bound

  1. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  5. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  6. False peace will not ________________.
  7. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  8. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  9. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  10. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  11. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  18. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  19. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  22. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  23. That was ________________ to happen.
  24. I had a ________________ with my boss today.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. present — there
  3. field — farmland
  4. last — finally
  5. bound — obliged
  6. last — to go on
  7. band — a rubber band
  8. present — a gift
  9. cell — in biology
  10. content — the amount
  11. content — happy
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. row — to paddle
  14. row — a line
  15. field — for sport
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. present — the time now
  18. band — a music group
  19. bound — tied together
  20. field — a subject
  21. band — a ring
  22. cell — a phone
  23. bound — certain
  24. row — a quarrel

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