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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 stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  3. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  4. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  7. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  8. How do you ________________ your surname?
  9. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  10. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  13. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  14. Did you ________________ the button?
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  17. That was a fun ________________.
  18. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  19. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  20. I'll be taking the ________________.
  21. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  22. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. lean — to bend
  3. lean — thin
  4. tube — a container
  5. field — farmland
  6. game — wild animals
  7. bark — of a tree
  8. spell — letters
  9. cell — a phone
  10. bark — a dog's sound
  11. field — a subject
  12. press — newspapers
  13. tube — in a tire
  14. press — to push
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. spell — magic
  17. game — a match
  18. bark — to shout
  19. spell — a short time
  20. tube — the underground
  21. press — a publisher
  22. lean — to rest against
  23. cell — in biology
  24. cell — in a prison

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