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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. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. You don't need to ________________ round.
  6. We're almost out of ________________.
  7. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  10. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  11. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  14. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  17. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  18. Have you settled on a ________________?
  19. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  20. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  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. bat — for baseball
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. field — for sport
  4. kid — to tease
  5. pop — to visit
  6. pop — soda
  7. bark — a dog's sound
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. stem — of a plant
  10. bark — to shout
  11. date — the fruit
  12. kid — child
  13. wake — to stop sleeping
  14. date — on the calendar
  15. field — farmland
  16. pop — music
  17. wake — before a funeral
  18. date — on the calendar
  19. stem — a stem cell
  20. stem — to come from
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. bat — the animal
  23. wake — a trail
  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