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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. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  2. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  3. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  6. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  7. You don't need to ________________ round.
  8. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  9. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  10. We're almost out of ________________.
  11. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  12. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  13. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  19. How do you ________________ your surname?
  20. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  21. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. racket — for tennis
  2. racket — for tennis
  3. bass — the fish
  4. field — farmland
  5. bark — a dog's sound
  6. racket — a loud noise
  7. pop — to visit
  8. shower — rain
  9. spell — magic
  10. pop — soda
  11. bass — low music
  12. bark — of a tree
  13. pop — music
  14. degree — from a university
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. degree — an amount
  17. shower — to wash
  18. bass — the instrument
  19. spell — letters
  20. bark — to shout
  21. spell — a short time
  22. degree — temperature
  23. field — for sport
  24. field — a subject

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