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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: track · bat · hand · kick · field · bark

  1. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  2. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  8. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  13. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.

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

Answer key

  1. track — to keep track
  2. kick — with a leg
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. bat — the animal
  5. field — for sport
  6. hand — in cards
  7. bark — of a tree
  8. track — a song
  9. hand — help
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. field — a subject
  12. bark — to shout
  13. track — a path
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. kick — a thrill
  17. field — farmland
  18. kick — in football

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