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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. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  4. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  5. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  6. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  9. The ________________ went through the wall.
  10. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  13. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  16. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  17. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  22. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  23. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — of a tree
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. track — to keep track
  4. nail — on a finger
  5. net — after costs
  6. net — for catching
  7. field — for sport
  8. bark — to shout
  9. nail — for a hammer
  10. track — a song
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. bark — a dog's sound
  13. bass — the fish
  14. game — a match
  15. game — wild animals
  16. bass — the instrument
  17. bass — low music
  18. cold — not warm
  19. field — farmland
  20. cold — an illness
  21. net — in sport
  22. track — a path
  23. nail — for a hammer
  24. field — a subject

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