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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. My father caught me by the ________________.
  2. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  5. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  6. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  7. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  8. Did you ________________ the meat?
  9. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  10. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  11. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  14. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  18. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  19. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  20. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  21. He is an ace ________________.
  22. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  23. He was locked up in a ________________.
  24. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. arm — part of the body
  2. bark — a dog's sound
  3. field — a subject
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. bark — to shout
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. ruler — a monarch
  8. season — to add flavour
  9. ruler — for measuring
  10. arm — part of the body
  11. bark — of a tree
  12. cell — a phone
  13. season — of the year
  14. cell — in biology
  15. field — farmland
  16. field — for sport
  17. ruler — for measuring
  18. march — music
  19. season — in sport
  20. arm — a part of something
  21. pitcher — in baseball
  22. march — the month
  23. cell — in a prison
  24. march — the month

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