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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. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  6. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  7. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  8. How do you ________________ your surname?
  9. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  16. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  17. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  18. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  19. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  22. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  23. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  24. He is an ace ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — of a tree
  2. hand — help
  3. club — for golf
  4. hand — in cards
  5. dip — a sauce
  6. root — the cause
  7. dip — to dunk
  8. spell — letters
  9. bark — to shout
  10. field — for sport
  11. dip — to sink
  12. field — farmland
  13. field — a subject
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. root — of a word
  16. root — of a plant
  17. club — a group
  18. spell — a short time
  19. spell — magic
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. pitcher — a jug
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. club — for dancing
  24. pitcher — in baseball

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