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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. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. That must've been a ________________.
  6. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  7. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  8. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  9. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  10. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  13. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  14. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  15. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  16. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  17. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  18. David sat on the ________________.
  19. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  20. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  21. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  22. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  23. How do you ________________ your surname?
  24. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.

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

Answer key

  1. track — a path
  2. mine — for digging
  3. track — to keep track
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. rush — a thrill
  6. spell — a short time
  7. net — for catching
  8. swing — in golf
  9. stem — to come from
  10. rush — to hurry
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. rush — hurry
  13. stem — of a plant
  14. track — a song
  15. net — in sport
  16. stem — a stem cell
  17. bark — to shout
  18. swing — to play on
  19. spell — magic
  20. bark — of a tree
  21. swing — music
  22. net — after costs
  23. spell — letters
  24. bark — a dog's sound

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