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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: shower · content · field · bound · wound · rule · mate · spell

  1. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  3. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. Have you found your soul ________________?
  6. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  7. How do you ________________ your surname?
  8. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  13. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  14. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  15. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  16. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  17. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  18. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  19. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  20. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  21. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  24. That was ________________ to happen.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. mate — to breed
  3. bound — obliged
  4. field — a subject
  5. mate — a partner
  6. rule — to rule out
  7. spell — letters
  8. spell — a short time
  9. field — farmland
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. shower — rain
  12. wound — an injury
  13. spell — magic
  14. wound — past of 'wind'
  15. bound — tied together
  16. wound — an injury
  17. rule — a law
  18. shower — to wash
  19. content — happy
  20. mate — a friend
  21. content — the amount
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. rule — government
  24. bound — certain

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