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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 120 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: bound · arm · cold · prune · tube · field · spell · bat

  1. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  2. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  5. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. My father caught me by the ________________.
  8. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  11. How do you ________________ your surname?
  12. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  15. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. That was ________________ to happen.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  20. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. I'll be taking the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bound — obliged
  2. arm — a part of something
  3. cold — not warm
  4. bound — tied together
  5. prune — the fruit
  6. field — for sport
  7. arm — part of the body
  8. spell — magic
  9. cold — an illness
  10. prune — to trim
  11. spell — letters
  12. tube — a container
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. prune — to trim
  15. tube — in a tire
  16. bat — the animal
  17. bound — certain
  18. field — farmland
  19. spell — a short time
  20. arm — part of the body
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. field — a subject
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. tube — the underground

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