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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. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  2. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  3. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  4. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  5. He is an ace ________________.
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  9. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  10. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  18. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  19. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  23. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  24. Fill up this ________________ with water.

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

Answer key

  1. foot — a measure
  2. foot — the bottom
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. fine — all right
  5. pitcher — in baseball
  6. wind — moving air
  7. clip — to cut
  8. foot — part of the body
  9. dip — to sink
  10. bark — a dog's sound
  11. clip — a video
  12. fine — high quality
  13. wind — moving air
  14. field — for sport
  15. fine — a penalty
  16. clip — for paper
  17. bark — to shout
  18. wind — to turn a key
  19. dip — to dunk
  20. field — farmland
  21. field — a subject
  22. bark — of a tree
  23. dip — a sauce
  24. pitcher — a jug

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