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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. She's very handy with a ________________.
  3. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  13. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. He works in a ________________ mill.
  16. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  17. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  20. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  21. It's one o'clock ________________.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. This knife is not ________________ enough.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — of a tree
  2. saw — the tool
  3. bark — a dog's sound
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. sharp — clever
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. file — a document
  8. file — a tool
  9. field — for sport
  10. row — to paddle
  11. field — a subject
  12. bark — to shout
  13. row — a line
  14. wind — moving air
  15. saw — the tool
  16. saw — past of 'see'
  17. chair — a professorship
  18. file — a line of people
  19. chair — to sit on
  20. chair — a leader
  21. sharp — exactly
  22. field — farmland
  23. wind — moving air
  24. sharp — with an edge

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