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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: clip · bound · stand · field · pop · cold · spring · spell

  1. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. You don't need to ________________ round.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  9. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  14. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. We're almost out of ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. How do you ________________ your surname?
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. I can't ________________ this cold.
  23. That was ________________ to happen.
  24. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.

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

Answer key

  1. stand — for spectators
  2. cold — not warm
  3. pop — to visit
  4. field — for sport
  5. field — farmland
  6. clip — for paper
  7. field — a subject
  8. spell — magic
  9. bound — tied together
  10. spring — the season
  11. pop — music
  12. cold — an illness
  13. spell — a short time
  14. bound — obliged
  15. clip — to cut
  16. spring — of water
  17. clip — a video
  18. pop — soda
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. spell — letters
  21. spring — a coil
  22. stand — to bear
  23. bound — certain
  24. stand — on your feet

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