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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 120 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 sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  2. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  14. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  17. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  18. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  19. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  24. Have you found your soul ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. bark — to shout
  2. mouse — the animal
  3. hand — in cards
  4. hand — help
  5. mate — a friend
  6. clip — to cut
  7. field — for sport
  8. chair — to sit on
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. chair — a leader
  11. field — farmland
  12. field — a subject
  13. mate — to breed
  14. mouse — for a computer
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. chair — a professorship
  17. bark — a dog's sound
  18. mouse — the animal
  19. bark — of a tree
  20. clip — for paper
  21. mine — for digging
  22. clip — a video
  23. mine — belonging to me
  24. mate — a partner

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