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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. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  2. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  12. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  13. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  14. He was locked up in a ________________.
  15. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  20. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  21. He is an ace ________________.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — in biology
  2. drill — the tool
  3. field — a subject
  4. clip — a video
  5. clip — for paper
  6. bark — to shout
  7. field — for sport
  8. spring — of water
  9. drill — a practice
  10. cell — a phone
  11. drill — army training
  12. bark — a dog's sound
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. cell — in a prison
  15. rule — to rule out
  16. spring — the season
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. field — farmland
  19. bark — of a tree
  20. rule — government
  21. pitcher — in baseball
  22. clip — to cut
  23. spring — a coil
  24. rule — a law

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