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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 preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  2. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  3. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  4. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  5. Have you found your soul ________________?
  6. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  11. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  12. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  13. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  14. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  21. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — a sales talk
  2. bass — low music
  3. trunk — of a car
  4. pitch — completely
  5. mate — a partner
  6. bass — the instrument
  7. game — wild animals
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. field — a subject
  10. trunk — of an elephant
  11. mate — a friend
  12. bark — to shout
  13. bark — of a tree
  14. pitch — a sports field
  15. game — a match
  16. file — a line of people
  17. mate — to breed
  18. field — for sport
  19. field — farmland
  20. bass — the fish
  21. bark — a dog's sound
  22. file — a document
  23. file — a tool
  24. trunk — of a tree

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