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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: craft · last · drill · season · field · cell · bound · staff

  1. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  2. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  6. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  7. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  8. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  9. False peace will not ________________.
  10. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  11. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  12. Did you ________________ the meat?
  13. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  14. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  15. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  16. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  19. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  20. That was ________________ to happen.
  21. He was locked up in a ________________.
  22. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!

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

Answer key

  1. season — of the year
  2. staff — a stick
  3. field — a subject
  4. field — farmland
  5. season — in sport
  6. last — final
  7. craft — boats
  8. bound — obliged
  9. last — to go on
  10. last — finally
  11. drill — army training
  12. season — to add flavour
  13. drill — the tool
  14. craft — a skill
  15. drill — a practice
  16. bound — tied together
  17. cell — in biology
  18. craft — a handicraft
  19. staff — employees
  20. bound — certain
  21. cell — in a prison
  22. staff — employees
  23. field — for sport
  24. cell — a phone

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