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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. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  2. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  11. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. That must've been a ________________.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  16. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  20. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  23. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  24. You shouldn't ________________ things.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — to shout
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. field — a subject
  4. lean — to bend
  5. file — a document
  6. hand — in cards
  7. bat — the animal
  8. lean — to rest against
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. lean — thin
  11. bark — a dog's sound
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. rush — a thrill
  14. field — for sport
  15. rush — hurry
  16. fork — a garden tool
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. file — a tool
  19. fork — to eat with
  20. hand — help
  21. file — a line of people
  22. fork — in a road
  23. field — farmland
  24. rush — to hurry

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