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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: scale · march · bark · cell · coach · field · lean · game

  1. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  4. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  5. He was locked up in a ________________.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  8. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  9. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. Have you met the new head ________________?
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  18. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  19. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  20. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  21. That was a fun ________________.
  22. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — to shout
  2. field — for sport
  3. coach — pulled by horses
  4. scale — for weighing
  5. cell — in a prison
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. coach — a trainer
  8. lean — to rest against
  9. bark — a dog's sound
  10. cell — a phone
  11. field — farmland
  12. lean — thin
  13. march — the month
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. field — a subject
  16. cell — in biology
  17. march — the month
  18. bark — of a tree
  19. scale — size or range
  20. lean — to bend
  21. game — a match
  22. march — music
  23. game — wild animals
  24. scale — in music

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