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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 like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  2. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  3. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. David sat on the ________________.
  8. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  9. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  10. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  11. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  12. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  19. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  20. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  21. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  24. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.

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

Answer key

  1. dip — to dunk
  2. track — a path
  3. drill — a practice
  4. field — a subject
  5. bark — a dog's sound
  6. field — farmland
  7. swing — to play on
  8. dip — a sauce
  9. bark — to shout
  10. drill — the tool
  11. track — to keep track
  12. bark — of a tree
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. mine — for digging
  15. swing — in golf
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. content — the amount
  18. swing — music
  19. track — a song
  20. dip — to sink
  21. content — happy
  22. field — for sport
  23. mine — belonging to me
  24. drill — army training

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