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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 124 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. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  3. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  4. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  5. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  8. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  9. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  13. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  14. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  24. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. rock — music
  3. drill — a practice
  4. drill — the tool
  5. straw — a straw man
  6. wound — an injury
  7. bark — a dog's sound
  8. straw — dry grass
  9. rock — a stone
  10. field — for sport
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. rock — to move gently
  13. bark — to shout
  14. squash — the sport
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. bark — of a tree
  17. field — a subject
  18. field — farmland
  19. wound — an injury
  20. squash — to crush
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. drill — army training
  23. wind — moving air
  24. squash — the vegetable

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