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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 116 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. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  3. David sat on the ________________.
  4. False peace will not ________________.
  5. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  8. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  9. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  12. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  13. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  16. The ________________ market has crashed.
  17. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  18. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  19. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  20. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  21. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. row — a quarrel
  3. swing — to play on
  4. last — to go on
  5. row — a line
  6. field — a subject
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. bark — of a tree
  9. last — final
  10. field — for sport
  11. stock — a soup base
  12. last — finally
  13. swing — in golf
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. net — in sport
  16. stock — shares
  17. net — for catching
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. perch — the fish
  20. bark — to shout
  21. stock — goods
  22. swing — music
  23. net — after costs
  24. row — to paddle

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