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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. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  2. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  5. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  6. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  13. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  14. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  15. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  16. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  17. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  20. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  23. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  24. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — to turn a key
  2. root — of a word
  3. wind — moving air
  4. root — the cause
  5. bark — a dog's sound
  6. trunk — of a tree
  7. field — farmland
  8. wind — moving air
  9. clip — a video
  10. clip — for paper
  11. clip — to cut
  12. wake — before a funeral
  13. wake — to stop sleeping
  14. trunk — of a car
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. patient — calm and waiting
  17. bark — of a tree
  18. field — a subject
  19. wake — a trail
  20. bark — to shout
  21. field — for sport
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. trunk — of an elephant
  24. root — of a plant

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