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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. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  2. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  3. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  7. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  8. It's one o'clock ________________.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  11. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  15. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  16. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  17. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  20. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  23. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  24. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. sharp — with an edge
  3. stick — a piece of wood
  4. land — ground
  5. land — a country
  6. wake — a trail
  7. scale — in music
  8. sharp — exactly
  9. field — a subject
  10. stick — a piece of wood
  11. wind — moving air
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. field — farmland
  14. sharp — clever
  15. bark — a dog's sound
  16. stick — to attach or keep to
  17. wake — to stop sleeping
  18. land — to come down
  19. wake — before a funeral
  20. scale — for weighing
  21. field — for sport
  22. bark — to shout
  23. bark — of a tree
  24. scale — size or range

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