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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 asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  7. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  8. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  9. How do you ________________ your surname?
  10. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  11. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  16. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  17. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  18. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  19. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  20. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. My father caught me by the ________________.
  22. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  23. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  24. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — magic
  2. field — farmland
  3. field — a subject
  4. arm — part of the body
  5. prune — to trim
  6. arm — a part of something
  7. dip — a sauce
  8. trunk — of a tree
  9. spell — letters
  10. band — a ring
  11. prune — to trim
  12. field — for sport
  13. bark — of a tree
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. trunk — of an elephant
  16. band — a music group
  17. prune — the fruit
  18. dip — to sink
  19. bark — to shout
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. arm — part of the body
  22. spell — a short time
  23. trunk — of a car
  24. dip — to dunk

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