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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. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. How do you ________________ your surname?
  3. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  4. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  5. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  8. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  11. My father caught me by the ________________.
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  15. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  16. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  19. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  23. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  24. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. spell — letters
  3. perch — the fish
  4. arm — part of the body
  5. rock — music
  6. field — farmland
  7. land — a country
  8. spell — magic
  9. spring — a coil
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. arm — part of the body
  12. land — to come down
  13. land — ground
  14. bark — to shout
  15. bark — a dog's sound
  16. arm — a part of something
  17. spring — of water
  18. rock — to move gently
  19. bark — of a tree
  20. field — for sport
  21. spring — the season
  22. spell — a short time
  23. rock — a stone
  24. perch — for a bird

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