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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 · tear · mine · arm · cell · land · bulb · field

  1. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  2. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  4. My father caught me by the ________________.
  5. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  6. The King held a masked ________________.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. I've got to change the light ________________.
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  20. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  21. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. The light ________________ burned out.
  24. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. arm — a part of something
  2. tear — from crying
  3. tear — to rip
  4. arm — part of the body
  5. ball — a round shape
  6. ball — a dance
  7. field — a subject
  8. arm — part of the body
  9. field — farmland
  10. land — to come down
  11. mine — for digging
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. cell — a phone
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. bulb — for light
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. field — for sport
  18. land — a country
  19. bulb — of a plant
  20. tear — from crying
  21. ball — a great time
  22. cell — in biology
  23. bulb — for light
  24. land — ground

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