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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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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. There's no middle ________________.
  2. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  3. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  9. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  10. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  11. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  12. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  13. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  16. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  17. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  18. The ________________ market has crashed.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — a position
  2. prune — to trim
  3. bark — to shout
  4. field — for sport
  5. field — a subject
  6. row — a line
  7. field — farmland
  8. stock — a soup base
  9. ground — the earth
  10. row — a quarrel
  11. prune — to trim
  12. ground — crushed
  13. row — to paddle
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. prune — the fruit
  16. stock — goods
  17. bark — of a tree
  18. stock — shares

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