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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. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  6. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  7. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  8. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  9. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  10. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  15. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  16. He is an ace ________________.
  17. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  18. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  19. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  20. Have you settled on a ________________?
  21. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  22. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. Fill up this ________________ with water.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. chest — of your body
  3. land — to come down
  4. field — farmland
  5. fork — a garden tool
  6. date — the fruit
  7. bark — to shout
  8. bark — a dog's sound
  9. fork — to eat with
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. field — for sport
  12. land — ground
  13. land — a country
  14. cue — a hint
  15. cue — a signal
  16. pitcher — in baseball
  17. bark — of a tree
  18. date — on the calendar
  19. chest — of your body
  20. date — on the calendar
  21. fork — in a road
  22. cue — for pool
  23. chest — a box
  24. pitcher — a jug

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