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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. That was a fun ________________.
  2. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  3. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  4. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  5. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  8. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. He is an ace ________________.
  14. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  15. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  16. The King held a masked ________________.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  19. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. Do you need a ________________ with that?

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. ball — a round shape
  3. bark — a dog's sound
  4. ball — a great time
  5. snap — to snap out of it
  6. wind — moving air
  7. snap — to click
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. hand — in cards
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. field — a subject
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. pitcher — in baseball
  14. bark — to shout
  15. bark — of a tree
  16. ball — a dance
  17. wind — moving air
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. wind — to turn a key
  20. field — farmland
  21. game — wild animals
  22. snap — to speak sharply
  23. field — for sport
  24. hand — help

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