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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: mate · capital · firm · prune · cold · pitcher · bound · field

  1. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  2. That was ________________ to happen.
  3. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  8. Have you found your soul ________________?
  9. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  10. He is an ace ________________.
  11. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  14. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  17. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  20. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  21. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. firm — a company
  2. bound — certain
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. field — for sport
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. capital — money
  7. prune — to trim
  8. mate — a partner
  9. firm — decided
  10. pitcher — in baseball
  11. bound — tied together
  12. capital — a city
  13. bound — obliged
  14. mate — to breed
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. prune — to trim
  17. firm — steady
  18. field — a subject
  19. pitcher — a jug
  20. prune — the fruit
  21. mate — a friend
  22. cold — an illness
  23. field — farmland
  24. cold — not warm

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