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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. Did you ________________ the button?
  2. We're on a ________________ here.
  3. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  6. He is an ace ________________.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  13. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  14. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  15. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  16. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  17. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  20. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.

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

Answer key

  1. press — to push
  2. roll — on a roll
  3. fine — high quality
  4. chest — of your body
  5. fine — all right
  6. pitcher — in baseball
  7. field — farmland
  8. degree — from a university
  9. chest — of your body
  10. roll — a list
  11. degree — an amount
  12. bark — to shout
  13. bark — of a tree
  14. press — a publisher
  15. press — newspapers
  16. roll — a cake
  17. fine — a penalty
  18. chest — a box
  19. pitcher — a jug
  20. pitcher — a jug
  21. field — for sport
  22. field — a subject
  23. degree — temperature
  24. bark — a dog's sound

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