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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. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  3. That must've been a ________________.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  6. How do you ________________ your surname?
  7. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  8. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  9. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  10. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  13. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  14. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  15. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  16. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  17. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  18. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  19. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  20. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  24. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. rush — to hurry
  3. rush — a thrill
  4. land — to come down
  5. foot — the bottom
  6. spell — letters
  7. wake — to stop sleeping
  8. bark — of a tree
  9. trunk — of an elephant
  10. bark — a dog's sound
  11. field — farmland
  12. bark — to shout
  13. foot — part of the body
  14. wake — a trail
  15. spell — magic
  16. foot — a measure
  17. trunk — of a car
  18. spell — a short time
  19. rush — hurry
  20. wake — before a funeral
  21. field — a subject
  22. field — for sport
  23. trunk — of a tree
  24. land — ground

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