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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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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 · root · wind · content · date · mine · field · temple

  1. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  4. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  5. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. That was ________________ to happen.
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. When was this ________________ built?
  17. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  18. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  19. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  20. Have you settled on a ________________?
  21. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  22. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  24. She's sitting on a gold ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bound — obliged
  2. field — farmland
  3. root — of a plant
  4. bound — tied together
  5. temple — a place of worship
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. field — a subject
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. wind — moving air
  10. wind — moving air
  11. field — for sport
  12. bound — certain
  13. content — the amount
  14. root — the cause
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. temple — a place of worship
  17. root — of a word
  18. content — happy
  19. date — the fruit
  20. date — on the calendar
  21. date — on the calendar
  22. temple — side of the head
  23. mine — an explosive
  24. mine — for digging

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