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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: cold · tear · field · lean · bound · mouse · spell · roll

  1. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  2. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  3. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  4. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  5. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  9. How do you ________________ your surname?
  10. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  11. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. We're on a ________________ here.
  18. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  21. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. That was ________________ to happen.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — to bend
  2. mouse — the animal
  3. lean — to rest against
  4. spell — a short time
  5. bound — tied together
  6. cold — an illness
  7. field — a subject
  8. roll — a cake
  9. spell — letters
  10. lean — thin
  11. roll — a list
  12. tear — from crying
  13. tear — to rip
  14. bound — obliged
  15. tear — from crying
  16. cold — not warm
  17. roll — on a roll
  18. mouse — for a computer
  19. field — farmland
  20. spell — magic
  21. mouse — the animal
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. bound — certain
  24. field — for sport

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