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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. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  2. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  5. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  6. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  7. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  11. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  12. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  13. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. That was a fun ________________.
  22. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. track — to keep track
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. drill — the tool
  5. mouse — the animal
  6. mouse — the animal
  7. bark — a dog's sound
  8. row — a line
  9. field — a subject
  10. track — a path
  11. bark — of a tree
  12. bark — to shout
  13. game — wild animals
  14. cell — a phone
  15. cell — in biology
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. drill — a practice
  18. field — farmland
  19. drill — army training
  20. row — to paddle
  21. game — a match
  22. mouse — for a computer
  23. field — for sport
  24. track — a song

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