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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. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  2. He was locked up in a ________________.
  3. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  7. How do you ________________ your surname?
  8. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  9. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  10. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  11. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  17. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  18. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  19. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  20. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  21. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  22. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — a phone
  2. cell — in a prison
  3. root — of a word
  4. field — farmland
  5. field — for sport
  6. lean — to bend
  7. spell — letters
  8. drill — a practice
  9. root — the cause
  10. spell — a short time
  11. spell — magic
  12. cell — in biology
  13. root — of a plant
  14. file — a tool
  15. field — a subject
  16. bark — to shout
  17. drill — the tool
  18. drill — army training
  19. bark — of a tree
  20. bark — a dog's sound
  21. lean — to rest against
  22. lean — thin
  23. file — a line of people
  24. file — a document

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