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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. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  5. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  6. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  9. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  10. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  17. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  18. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  22. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  23. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. field — for sport
  3. capital — money
  4. straw — a straw man
  5. wake — to stop sleeping
  6. racket — for tennis
  7. capital — a city
  8. bark — of a tree
  9. wake — before a funeral
  10. bark — a dog's sound
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. racket — a loud noise
  13. cold — an illness
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. pass — to spend time
  17. pass — a permit
  18. pass — to succeed
  19. field — farmland
  20. cold — not warm
  21. wake — a trail
  22. bark — to shout
  23. racket — for tennis
  24. cold — the Cold War

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