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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. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  5. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  8. The ball is in your ________________.
  9. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  10. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  11. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  14. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  15. My father caught me by the ________________.
  16. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  17. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  18. David sat on the ________________.
  19. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  20. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  21. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  22. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  23. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. land — a country
  3. court — of law
  4. track — a song
  5. court — of a king
  6. land — to come down
  7. root — the cause
  8. court — for sport
  9. root — of a plant
  10. track — to keep track
  11. arm — part of the body
  12. shower — rain
  13. swing — music
  14. bark — of a tree
  15. arm — part of the body
  16. bark — to shout
  17. track — a path
  18. swing — to play on
  19. arm — a part of something
  20. shower — to wash
  21. swing — in golf
  22. root — of a word
  23. bark — a dog's sound
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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