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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 ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  5. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  6. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  7. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  19. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  20. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  21. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  22. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. track — a path
  3. game — wild animals
  4. bark — a dog's sound
  5. race — a contest
  6. branch — of a bank
  7. branch — a division
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. game — a kind of play
  10. race — the arms race
  11. race — humankind
  12. bat — the animal
  13. wound — an injury
  14. field — farmland
  15. bark — of a tree
  16. game — a match
  17. field — a subject
  18. track — a song
  19. branch — of a tree
  20. wound — an injury
  21. bark — to shout
  22. track — to keep track
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. field — for sport

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