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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. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  3. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  4. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  5. The ________________ market has crashed.
  6. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  7. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  8. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  9. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  10. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  13. There's no middle ________________.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  16. She's very handy with a ________________.
  17. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  18. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  19. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. He works in a ________________ mill.
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  24. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. bark — a dog's sound
  3. wound — an injury
  4. chair — to sit on
  5. stock — shares
  6. bark — of a tree
  7. bass — the instrument
  8. ground — crushed
  9. bark — to shout
  10. bass — low music
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. stock — a soup base
  13. ground — a position
  14. field — farmland
  15. wound — an injury
  16. saw — the tool
  17. saw — past of 'see'
  18. bass — the fish
  19. chair — a professorship
  20. field — a subject
  21. field — for sport
  22. saw — the tool
  23. ground — the earth
  24. stock — goods

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