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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. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  5. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  6. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  11. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  18. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  19. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  20. My father caught me by the ________________.
  21. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  22. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. field — a subject
  4. wax — in the ear
  5. bark — to shout
  6. arm — a part of something
  7. field — farmland
  8. arm — part of the body
  9. field — for sport
  10. wax — to grow
  11. racket — for tennis
  12. kid — child
  13. bark — a dog's sound
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. kid — to tease
  16. capital — a city
  17. racket — for tennis
  18. drill — the tool
  19. drill — a practice
  20. arm — part of the body
  21. racket — a loud noise
  22. wax — for sculpting
  23. capital — money
  24. drill — army training

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