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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 116 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. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  2. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  5. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  9. Where did you ________________ them?
  10. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  13. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  14. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  18. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  21. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. pass — to succeed
  2. mug — a cup
  3. cold — not warm
  4. prune — to trim
  5. bark — to shout
  6. field — for sport
  7. file — a line of people
  8. pass — to spend time
  9. mug — to rob
  10. mug — a face
  11. file — a tool
  12. lash — an eyelash
  13. bark — of a tree
  14. lash — a whip stroke
  15. cold — an illness
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. bark — a dog's sound
  18. prune — to trim
  19. file — a document
  20. prune — the fruit
  21. pass — a permit
  22. field — farmland
  23. lash — to lash out
  24. field — a subject

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