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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: cold · spell · arm · field · wake · lie · pound · scale

  1. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  5. How do you ________________ your surname?
  6. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  7. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  8. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  11. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  15. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  16. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  19. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  20. My father caught me by the ________________.
  21. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  22. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  23. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  24. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — a weight
  2. field — a subject
  3. field — for sport
  4. spell — magic
  5. spell — letters
  6. arm — part of the body
  7. wake — before a funeral
  8. pound — to hit hard
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. spell — a short time
  11. scale — for weighing
  12. cold — an illness
  13. cold — not warm
  14. arm — a part of something
  15. wake — a trail
  16. lie — an untruth
  17. field — farmland
  18. lie — an untruth
  19. lie — to recline
  20. arm — part of the body
  21. scale — in music
  22. pound — for dogs
  23. scale — size or range
  24. wake — to stop sleeping

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