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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. You don't need to ________________ round.
  2. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  6. The ball is in your ________________.
  7. We're almost out of ________________.
  8. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  9. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  10. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  11. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  12. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  13. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  16. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  21. The ________________ took off on time.
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!

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

Answer key

  1. pop — to visit
  2. perch — the fish
  3. field — a subject
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. perch — for a bird
  6. court — for sport
  7. pop — soda
  8. bark — to shout
  9. bark — of a tree
  10. pop — music
  11. perch — for a bird
  12. court — of law
  13. plane — in geometry
  14. bat — the animal
  15. plane — a tool
  16. bark — a dog's sound
  17. field — farmland
  18. court — of a king
  19. field — for sport
  20. cell — in biology
  21. plane — an aircraft
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. cell — a phone

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