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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. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  6. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  7. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  8. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  11. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  12. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  18. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  19. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  20. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  24. He had ________________ pain while walking.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — an explosive
  2. net — after costs
  3. wake — before a funeral
  4. field — a subject
  5. wake — a trail
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. net — for catching
  8. net — in sport
  9. tear — from crying
  10. bark — a dog's sound
  11. perch — for a bird
  12. wake — to stop sleeping
  13. field — for sport
  14. mine — for digging
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. tear — to rip
  17. bark — of a tree
  18. bark — to shout
  19. calf — a young animal
  20. calf — a young animal
  21. field — farmland
  22. tear — from crying
  23. perch — the fish
  24. calf — of the leg

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