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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. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  7. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  8. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  9. The ________________ took off on time.
  10. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  11. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  12. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  13. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  23. He was locked up in a ________________.
  24. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bear — the animal
  2. tear — from crying
  3. game — a match
  4. plane — in geometry
  5. field — farmland
  6. plane — a tool
  7. bear — to put up with
  8. bear — the animal
  9. plane — an aircraft
  10. game — wild animals
  11. band — a rubber band
  12. bark — a dog's sound
  13. bark — of a tree
  14. tear — from crying
  15. band — a music group
  16. field — a subject
  17. tear — to rip
  18. cell — a phone
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. cell — in biology
  21. field — for sport
  22. bark — to shout
  23. cell — in a prison
  24. band — a ring

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