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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 116 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. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  2. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  3. He was locked up in a ________________.
  4. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  8. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  11. You don't need to ________________ round.
  12. The King held a masked ________________.
  13. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  14. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  15. We're almost out of ________________.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. The ball is in your ________________.
  21. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  22. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  23. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  24. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — a dog's sound
  2. march — the month
  3. cell — in a prison
  4. ball — a great time
  5. game — a match
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. bark — of a tree
  8. bark — to shout
  9. field — a subject
  10. court — of a king
  11. pop — to visit
  12. ball — a dance
  13. game — wild animals
  14. pop — music
  15. pop — soda
  16. field — farmland
  17. cell — in biology
  18. court — of law
  19. field — for sport
  20. court — for sport
  21. ball — a round shape
  22. march — the month
  23. cell — a phone
  24. march — music

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