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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. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  2. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  3. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  4. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. Did you ________________ the button?
  7. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  12. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  13. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  14. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  17. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. This piece is in a major ________________.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  23. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  24. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.

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

Answer key

  1. key — the most important part
  2. march — music
  3. bark — of a tree
  4. can — a tin
  5. field — for sport
  6. press — to push
  7. can — to be able to
  8. field — farmland
  9. bark — a dog's sound
  10. cold — an illness
  11. march — the month
  12. press — a publisher
  13. stem — of a plant
  14. can — a tin
  15. cold — not warm
  16. key — for a lock
  17. stem — to come from
  18. field — a subject
  19. key — in music
  20. march — the month
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. press — newspapers
  23. bark — to shout
  24. stem — a stem cell

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