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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  4. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  5. We're on a ________________ here.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  9. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  10. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  11. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  12. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — to shout
  2. chest — of your body
  3. bark — of a tree
  4. bark — a dog's sound
  5. roll — on a roll
  6. field — a subject
  7. field — farmland
  8. roll — a cake
  9. track — a path
  10. kid — child
  11. track — to keep track
  12. track — a song
  13. chest — a box
  14. roll — a list
  15. chest — of your body
  16. field — for sport
  17. kid — to tease
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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