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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. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. How do you ________________ your surname?
  3. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  6. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  7. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  13. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  14. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  17. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  20. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  24. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. spell — letters
  3. spell — a short time
  4. field — farmland
  5. bark — of a tree
  6. cue — for pool
  7. lie — an untruth
  8. wound — an injury
  9. cue — a hint
  10. degree — from a university
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. wake — a trail
  13. bark — to shout
  14. lie — to recline
  15. field — for sport
  16. wake — to stop sleeping
  17. wake — before a funeral
  18. wound — an injury
  19. bark — a dog's sound
  20. cue — a signal
  21. degree — temperature
  22. degree — an amount
  23. spell — magic
  24. lie — an untruth

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