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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. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  2. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  3. Have you settled on a ________________?
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. The ball is in your ________________.
  6. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  9. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  22. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  23. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  24. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — of a tree
  2. track — a path
  3. date — on the calendar
  4. field — a subject
  5. court — for sport
  6. track — to keep track
  7. field — for sport
  8. bark — to shout
  9. wax — for sculpting
  10. chest — of your body
  11. wax — in the ear
  12. chest — of your body
  13. shower — to wash
  14. field — farmland
  15. date — on the calendar
  16. shower — rain
  17. chest — a box
  18. court — of a king
  19. wax — to grow
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. court — of law
  22. date — the fruit
  23. bark — a dog's sound
  24. track — a song

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