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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. He is an ace ________________.
  2. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  6. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  7. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  8. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  12. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  17. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  18. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  19. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  20. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  21. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — in baseball
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. field — for sport
  4. hand — in cards
  5. bowl — a football final
  6. bark — of a tree
  7. trunk — of a car
  8. bark — a dog's sound
  9. hand — help
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. trunk — of a tree
  12. bark — to shout
  13. field — farmland
  14. cold — not warm
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. stick — to attach or keep to
  17. stick — a piece of wood
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. stick — a piece of wood
  20. bowl — a dish
  21. bowl — to roll
  22. cold — an illness
  23. trunk — of an elephant
  24. field — a subject

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