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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: drill · date · straw · chest · spell · bark · field · mug

  1. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  2. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  3. Where did you ________________ them?
  4. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  8. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  9. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  10. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  11. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  12. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  13. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  18. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  19. How do you ________________ your surname?
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  22. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  23. Have you settled on a ________________?
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. date — on the calendar
  2. straw — a straw man
  3. mug — to rob
  4. bark — to shout
  5. field — farmland
  6. field — a subject
  7. date — the fruit
  8. mug — a cup
  9. drill — army training
  10. drill — the tool
  11. mug — a face
  12. spell — a short time
  13. drill — a practice
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. chest — a box
  17. spell — magic
  18. bark — of a tree
  19. spell — letters
  20. field — for sport
  21. chest — of your body
  22. straw — to clutch at straws
  23. date — on the calendar
  24. chest — of your body

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