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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. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  6. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  9. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  12. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  15. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  16. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  17. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  18. The ball is in your ________________.
  19. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mouse — the animal
  2. field — a subject
  3. court — of a king
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. bark — to shout
  6. racket — for tennis
  7. file — a tool
  8. face — to point toward
  9. mouse — for a computer
  10. cold — not warm
  11. file — a line of people
  12. face — to confront
  13. file — a document
  14. face — part of the head
  15. bark — of a tree
  16. bark — a dog's sound
  17. racket — for tennis
  18. court — for sport
  19. racket — a loud noise
  20. cold — an illness
  21. court — of law
  22. field — for sport
  23. mouse — the animal
  24. field — farmland

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