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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. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  7. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  8. The ball is in your ________________.
  9. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  10. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  11. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  12. She's very handy with a ________________.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  17. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  20. He works in a ________________ mill.
  21. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  22. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  23. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  24. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of law
  2. field — farmland
  3. bark — of a tree
  4. degree — an amount
  5. field — for sport
  6. bass — the instrument
  7. court — of a king
  8. court — for sport
  9. branch — of a bank
  10. bark — to shout
  11. rule — government
  12. saw — the tool
  13. degree — temperature
  14. bass — low music
  15. degree — from a university
  16. bark — a dog's sound
  17. bass — the fish
  18. field — a subject
  19. saw — past of 'see'
  20. saw — the tool
  21. rule — to rule out
  22. branch — a division
  23. rule — a law
  24. branch — of a tree

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