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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 · kid · current · swing · season · ball · field · bark

  1. The King held a masked ________________.
  2. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  4. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  5. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. Did you ________________ the meat?
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  12. David sat on the ________________.
  13. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  17. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  18. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  21. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  22. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a dance
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. swing — music
  4. season — in sport
  5. current — happening now
  6. field — a subject
  7. season — to add flavour
  8. field — farmland
  9. bark — a dog's sound
  10. shower — to wash
  11. current — electric
  12. swing — to play on
  13. swing — in golf
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. field — for sport
  16. bark — to shout
  17. ball — a round shape
  18. current — of water
  19. kid — child
  20. season — of the year
  21. ball — a great time
  22. kid — to tease
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. shower — rain

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