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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. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  3. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  6. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  7. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  8. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  9. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  10. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  11. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  12. Have you settled on a ________________?
  13. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  14. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  15. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  18. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  19. That was ________________ to happen.
  20. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  23. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. mouse — the animal
  3. snap — to click
  4. field — farmland
  5. hide — animal skin
  6. snap — to snap out of it
  7. mouse — the animal
  8. bound — obliged
  9. bound — tied together
  10. hide — to keep secret
  11. mouse — for a computer
  12. date — on the calendar
  13. bark — of a tree
  14. date — the fruit
  15. bark — a dog's sound
  16. shower — rain
  17. bark — to shout
  18. hide — to keep secret
  19. bound — certain
  20. shower — to wash
  21. field — for sport
  22. snap — to speak sharply
  23. date — on the calendar
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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