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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. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. False peace will not ________________.
  5. What do you think of the new ________________?
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  8. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  9. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  10. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. He is an ace ________________.
  13. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  14. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  15. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  16. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  17. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  20. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  21. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  22. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  23. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  24. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — to bend
  2. last — final
  3. game — a match
  4. last — to go on
  5. cabinet — ministers
  6. field — farmland
  7. present — a gift
  8. lean — thin
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. last — finally
  11. field — a subject
  12. pitcher — in baseball
  13. bark — of a tree
  14. game — wild animals
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. present — there
  17. present — the time now
  18. field — for sport
  19. lean — to rest against
  20. cabinet — ministers
  21. bark — a dog's sound
  22. cabinet — a cupboard
  23. bark — to shout
  24. game — a kind of play

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