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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. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  4. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. The King held a masked ________________.
  10. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  11. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  12. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  13. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  21. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  22. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  23. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  24. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — to shout
  2. net — after costs
  3. bark — a dog's sound
  4. net — for catching
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. stick — a piece of wood
  7. hand — in cards
  8. wound — an injury
  9. ball — a dance
  10. stick — a piece of wood
  11. ball — a great time
  12. bark — of a tree
  13. pitch — a sports field
  14. field — a subject
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. field — farmland
  17. hand — help
  18. field — for sport
  19. wound — an injury
  20. pitch — completely
  21. stick — to attach or keep to
  22. net — in sport
  23. ball — a round shape
  24. pitch — a sales talk

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