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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. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  10. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  11. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  12. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  18. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  19. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  23. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. field — farmland
  4. field — for sport
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. field — a subject
  7. bank — for money
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. bark — to shout
  10. bark — a dog's sound
  11. bank — of a river
  12. perch — the fish
  13. kid — to tease
  14. cold — an illness
  15. kid — child
  16. game — a match
  17. game — a kind of play
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. bark — of a tree
  20. mine — for digging
  21. game — wild animals
  22. bank — for money
  23. perch — for a bird
  24. cold — not warm

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