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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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. We're on a ________________ here.
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  7. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  10. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  11. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  12. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  13. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  14. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  15. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  19. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  20. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  21. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  22. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  23. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  24. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. roll — on a roll
  3. chest — of your body
  4. chair — a professorship
  5. land — a country
  6. lie — an untruth
  7. bark — a dog's sound
  8. field — a subject
  9. chest — a box
  10. chair — a leader
  11. squash — the sport
  12. roll — a cake
  13. squash — the vegetable
  14. lie — to recline
  15. squash — to crush
  16. field — for sport
  17. land — to come down
  18. lie — an untruth
  19. bark — to shout
  20. chair — to sit on
  21. chest — of your body
  22. bark — of a tree
  23. roll — a list
  24. land — ground

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