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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 120 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: ground · ball · wound · fall · leaves · cold · season · field

  1. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  2. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  3. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  4. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  8. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  9. The King held a masked ________________.
  10. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  11. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  12. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  13. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. Did you ________________ the meat?
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  22. There's no middle ________________.
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — crushed
  2. season — in sport
  3. ground — the earth
  4. leaves — of a tree
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. field — a subject
  7. ball — a round shape
  8. ball — a great time
  9. ball — a dance
  10. fall — to drop
  11. season — of the year
  12. fall — to drop
  13. leaves — lets stay
  14. field — farmland
  15. season — to add flavour
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. cold — not warm
  18. field — for sport
  19. leaves — to go away
  20. wound — an injury
  21. fall — the season
  22. ground — a position
  23. wound — an injury
  24. cold — an illness

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