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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: shower · bark · cell · present · fork · field

  1. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  2. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  3. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  4. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  9. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  10. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  17. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  18. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — to eat with
  2. cell — in biology
  3. bark — a dog's sound
  4. fork — in a road
  5. field — farmland
  6. present — the time now
  7. shower — to wash
  8. present — there
  9. bark — to shout
  10. shower — rain
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. field — a subject
  13. cell — a phone
  14. field — for sport
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. present — a gift
  17. bark — of a tree
  18. fork — a garden tool

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