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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. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. My father caught me by the ________________.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  8. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  9. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  10. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  11. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  12. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  13. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  16. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  17. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  18. That must've been a ________________.
  19. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  22. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  23. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  24. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — of a tree
  2. field — farmland
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. arm — part of the body
  5. field — for sport
  6. field — a subject
  7. band — a rubber band
  8. band — a ring
  9. arm — a part of something
  10. rush — to hurry
  11. arm — part of the body
  12. wake — before a funeral
  13. wake — to stop sleeping
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. drill — army training
  16. drill — a practice
  17. band — a music group
  18. rush — a thrill
  19. rush — hurry
  20. wind — moving air
  21. bark — to shout
  22. wind — moving air
  23. wake — a trail
  24. drill — the tool

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