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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. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  4. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  9. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  10. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  11. How do you ________________ your surname?
  12. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  15. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  16. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  17. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  18. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. My father caught me by the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. band — a music group
  3. arm — a part of something
  4. band — a rubber band
  5. field — a subject
  6. can — a tin
  7. cell — a phone
  8. cell — in biology
  9. bark — of a tree
  10. can — to be able to
  11. spell — letters
  12. spell — a short time
  13. field — for sport
  14. band — a ring
  15. bark — a dog's sound
  16. can — a tin
  17. spell — magic
  18. arm — part of the body
  19. degree — an amount
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. bark — to shout
  22. degree — from a university
  23. degree — temperature
  24. arm — part of the body

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