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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. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  4. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  11. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  12. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  13. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  16. That was ________________ to happen.
  17. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  18. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  19. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  20. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  21. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  22. What do you think of the new ________________?
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. We are ________________ to obey laws.

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

Answer key

  1. pit — a fruit stone
  2. field — farmland
  3. pit — a hole
  4. row — a line
  5. field — a subject
  6. cabinet — ministers
  7. field — for sport
  8. bark — of a tree
  9. shower — to wash
  10. bark — to shout
  11. row — to paddle
  12. net — for catching
  13. pit — in a race
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. net — after costs
  16. bound — certain
  17. bark — a dog's sound
  18. net — in sport
  19. bound — tied together
  20. row — a quarrel
  21. cabinet — a cupboard
  22. cabinet — ministers
  23. shower — rain
  24. bound — obliged

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