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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. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  3. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  4. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  5. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  6. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  11. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  12. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  13. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. How do you ________________ your surname?
  17. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  18. He is an ace ________________.
  19. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. bark — a dog's sound
  4. current — electric
  5. drill — a practice
  6. drill — the tool
  7. clip — for paper
  8. kid — to tease
  9. field — a subject
  10. current — of water
  11. bark — of a tree
  12. current — happening now
  13. spell — magic
  14. clip — a video
  15. field — for sport
  16. spell — letters
  17. bark — to shout
  18. pitcher — in baseball
  19. spell — a short time
  20. clip — to cut
  21. drill — army training
  22. field — farmland
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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