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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: ball · cold · chest · lie · spell · field · deal · dip

  1. The King held a masked ________________.
  2. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  3. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  6. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  9. How do you ________________ your surname?
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  17. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  18. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  19. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  20. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a dance
  2. spell — a short time
  3. lie — to recline
  4. field — for sport
  5. dip — a sauce
  6. spell — magic
  7. cold — not warm
  8. ball — a round shape
  9. spell — letters
  10. cold — an illness
  11. deal — to handle
  12. field — a subject
  13. ball — a great time
  14. chest — of your body
  15. chest — a box
  16. lie — an untruth
  17. lie — an untruth
  18. dip — to dunk
  19. deal — an agreement
  20. deal — a big deal
  21. field — farmland
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. dip — to sink
  24. chest — of your body

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