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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 120 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 ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  2. He was locked up in a ________________.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  5. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  8. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  11. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  12. The ball is in your ________________.
  13. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  18. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  19. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. That was ________________ to happen.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. I had a ________________ with my boss today.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of law
  2. cell — in a prison
  3. field — a subject
  4. row — to paddle
  5. lie — an untruth
  6. cell — a phone
  7. bark — a dog's sound
  8. lie — an untruth
  9. degree — an amount
  10. bound — obliged
  11. lie — to recline
  12. court — for sport
  13. bark — to shout
  14. degree — from a university
  15. bound — tied together
  16. field — for sport
  17. court — of a king
  18. bark — of a tree
  19. row — a line
  20. degree — temperature
  21. bound — certain
  22. field — farmland
  23. cell — in biology
  24. row — a quarrel

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