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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: capital · current · ground · bay · field · cell · cold · date

  1. He was locked up in a ________________.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. Have you settled on a ________________?
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  8. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  9. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  10. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  15. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  16. My mare is ________________ in color.
  17. There's no middle ________________.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  23. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  24. Add some ________________ pepper to it.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — in a prison
  2. field — a subject
  3. field — farmland
  4. date — on the calendar
  5. capital — a city
  6. field — for sport
  7. ground — the earth
  8. date — the fruit
  9. current — of water
  10. date — on the calendar
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. capital — money
  13. cell — a phone
  14. cell — in biology
  15. bay — a part of the sea
  16. bay — a horse colour
  17. ground — a position
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. current — electric
  20. cold — an illness
  21. cold — not warm
  22. current — happening now
  23. bay — to keep at bay
  24. ground — crushed

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