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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 · chest · field · bulb · spell · calf · march · hide

  1. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  8. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  11. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  12. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  13. The light ________________ burned out.
  14. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  15. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  16. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  17. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  20. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  21. How do you ________________ your surname?
  22. I've got to change the light ________________.
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. The King held a masked ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. chest — of your body
  3. hide — to keep secret
  4. field — a subject
  5. field — farmland
  6. field — for sport
  7. bulb — of a plant
  8. spell — a short time
  9. chest — of your body
  10. ball — a great time
  11. march — the month
  12. march — the month
  13. bulb — for light
  14. calf — a young animal
  15. calf — a young animal
  16. calf — of the leg
  17. ball — a round shape
  18. chest — a box
  19. spell — magic
  20. hide — animal skin
  21. spell — letters
  22. bulb — for light
  23. march — music
  24. ball — a dance

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