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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: march · snap · spell · field · mine · bark · foot · fine

  1. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  2. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  3. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  4. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  5. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. How do you ________________ your surname?
  8. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  9. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  10. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  11. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  12. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  16. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  17. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  20. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  21. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  22. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  23. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  24. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.

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

Answer key

  1. fine — all right
  2. fine — high quality
  3. snap — to click
  4. fine — a penalty
  5. spell — magic
  6. mine — for digging
  7. spell — letters
  8. march — the month
  9. snap — to speak sharply
  10. bark — of a tree
  11. bark — a dog's sound
  12. foot — part of the body
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. field — for sport
  15. spell — a short time
  16. march — music
  17. foot — the bottom
  18. field — a subject
  19. foot — a measure
  20. bark — to shout
  21. mine — an explosive
  22. snap — to snap out of it
  23. field — farmland
  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