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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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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: land · content · fork · field · bound · drill · spell · file

  1. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  4. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  5. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  6. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  7. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. That was ________________ to happen.
  15. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  16. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  17. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  18. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  23. How do you ________________ your surname?
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bound — tied together
  2. land — a country
  3. content — videos and posts
  4. fork — a garden tool
  5. land — ground
  6. bound — obliged
  7. content — the amount
  8. field — for sport
  9. land — to come down
  10. fork — to eat with
  11. file — a tool
  12. drill — the tool
  13. file — a document
  14. bound — certain
  15. spell — magic
  16. content — happy
  17. drill — army training
  18. spell — a short time
  19. field — a subject
  20. drill — a practice
  21. file — a line of people
  22. fork — in a road
  23. spell — letters
  24. field — farmland

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