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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's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  3. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  4. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  5. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  8. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  15. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  16. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  23. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. track — a path
  3. bark — of a tree
  4. bark — a dog's sound
  5. track — a song
  6. field — for sport
  7. fall — to drop
  8. fall — to drop
  9. shower — rain
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. foot — part of the body
  12. mine — for digging
  13. field — farmland
  14. foot — a measure
  15. track — to keep track
  16. fall — the season
  17. field — a subject
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. foot — the bottom
  23. bark — to shout
  24. mine — an explosive

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