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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 party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  2. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  4. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  5. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. It's one o'clock ________________.
  8. Don't do anything ________________.
  9. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  10. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  11. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  16. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  17. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  24. He's quite ________________, isn't he?

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

Answer key

  1. rash — a series
  2. mine — belonging to me
  3. bark — of a tree
  4. bark — a dog's sound
  5. cell — in biology
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. sharp — exactly
  8. rash — hasty
  9. sharp — with an edge
  10. trunk — of an elephant
  11. rash — on the skin
  12. field — for sport
  13. field — a subject
  14. cell — a phone
  15. trunk — of a car
  16. trunk — of a tree
  17. wind — moving air
  18. wind — moving air
  19. bark — to shout
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. field — farmland
  22. mine — for digging
  23. mine — an explosive
  24. sharp — clever

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