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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: bass · field · cold · pitcher · wind · temple · bound · tear

  1. He is an ace ________________.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  4. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  12. That was ________________ to happen.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  15. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  16. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  17. When was this ________________ built?
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  20. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  21. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. I play ________________ in a jazz band.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — in baseball
  2. wind — moving air
  3. temple — a place of worship
  4. bound — tied together
  5. field — farmland
  6. tear — from crying
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. tear — to rip
  9. tear — from crying
  10. field — a subject
  11. temple — side of the head
  12. bound — certain
  13. field — for sport
  14. bound — obliged
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. bass — the fish
  17. temple — a place of worship
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. pitcher — a jug
  20. bass — low music
  21. wind — moving air
  22. cold — an illness
  23. cold — not warm
  24. bass — the instrument

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