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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. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  3. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  4. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  7. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. Don't do anything ________________.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  12. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  13. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  14. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  19. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  20. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  21. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. bark — a dog's sound
  3. calf — a young animal
  4. vault — a safe
  5. cold — not warm
  6. calf — a young animal
  7. bark — of a tree
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. rash — hasty
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. rash — a series
  12. rash — on the skin
  13. fork — to eat with
  14. calf — of the leg
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. cold — an illness
  17. field — a subject
  18. bark — to shout
  19. vault — an arched ceiling
  20. vault — in gymnastics
  21. fork — a garden tool
  22. mine — for digging
  23. fork — in a road
  24. field — farmland

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