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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 120 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 don't want to ________________ the boat.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  5. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  8. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  11. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. I've got to change the light ________________.
  18. The light ________________ burned out.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. It's one o'clock ________________.
  21. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  22. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  23. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  24. He keeps ________________ of his days.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — to move gently
  2. chest — of your body
  3. field — farmland
  4. track — a song
  5. bark — a dog's sound
  6. chest — of your body
  7. bulb — of a plant
  8. sharp — clever
  9. field — a subject
  10. rock — music
  11. bark — to shout
  12. spring — the season
  13. field — for sport
  14. spring — a coil
  15. rock — a stone
  16. spring — of water
  17. bulb — for light
  18. bulb — for light
  19. chest — a box
  20. sharp — exactly
  21. sharp — with an edge
  22. bark — of a tree
  23. track — a path
  24. track — to keep track

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