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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. There's no middle ________________.
  2. When are we going to ________________?
  3. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  6. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  7. He was locked up in a ________________.
  8. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  9. The light ________________ burned out.
  10. The ________________ market has crashed.
  11. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  16. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  19. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. I've got to change the light ________________.
  24. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!

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

Answer key

  1. ground — a position
  2. land — to come down
  3. bark — a dog's sound
  4. field — farmland
  5. bulb — of a plant
  6. cell — in biology
  7. cell — in a prison
  8. stock — goods
  9. bulb — for light
  10. stock — shares
  11. bark — of a tree
  12. degree — an amount
  13. ground — crushed
  14. field — for sport
  15. land — ground
  16. bark — to shout
  17. field — a subject
  18. stock — a soup base
  19. ground — the earth
  20. degree — from a university
  21. degree — temperature
  22. land — a country
  23. bulb — for light
  24. cell — a phone

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