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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. We're almost out of ________________.
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  4. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  5. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  6. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  7. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  8. False peace will not ________________.
  9. You don't need to ________________ round.
  10. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  13. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  14. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  15. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  16. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  17. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  19. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  20. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  21. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — soda
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. drill — the tool
  4. racket — for tennis
  5. racket — a loud noise
  6. bark — a dog's sound
  7. last — finally
  8. last — to go on
  9. pop — to visit
  10. bark — to shout
  11. field — for sport
  12. straw — to clutch at straws
  13. last — final
  14. drill — a practice
  15. pop — music
  16. straw — a straw man
  17. bark — of a tree
  18. mine — for digging
  19. drill — army training
  20. mine — belonging to me
  21. straw — dry grass
  22. field — a subject
  23. racket — for tennis
  24. field — farmland

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