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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 116 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. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  4. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  7. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  12. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  15. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  16. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. field — a subject
  3. chair — a professorship
  4. band — a music group
  5. field — farmland
  6. chair — a leader
  7. bark — a dog's sound
  8. content — happy
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. cue — for pool
  12. cue — a signal
  13. content — the amount
  14. band — a ring
  15. bark — of a tree
  16. cue — a hint
  17. field — for sport
  18. bark — to shout

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