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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. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  4. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  5. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  6. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  11. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  14. The ________________ market has crashed.
  15. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  16. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  17. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  18. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  19. David sat on the ________________.
  20. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  23. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  24. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — a dog's sound
  2. field — farmland
  3. face — to confront
  4. kick — a thrill
  5. bark — of a tree
  6. object — to protest
  7. field — a subject
  8. object — a thing
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. kick — in football
  11. bark — to shout
  12. hand — in cards
  13. hand — help
  14. stock — shares
  15. stock — a soup base
  16. object — an aim
  17. swing — in golf
  18. kick — with a leg
  19. swing — to play on
  20. swing — music
  21. field — for sport
  22. stock — goods
  23. face — part of the head
  24. face — to point toward

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