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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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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: chair · court · field · staff · fall · hide · snap · bark

  1. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  2. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  3. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  4. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  5. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  6. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  7. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  8. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  9. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  10. The ball is in your ________________.
  11. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  12. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  13. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  16. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  19. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  20. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  21. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  22. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  23. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — a dog's sound
  2. snap — to speak sharply
  3. chair — to sit on
  4. snap — to click
  5. staff — a stick
  6. snap — to snap out of it
  7. hide — animal skin
  8. bark — to shout
  9. fall — to drop
  10. court — for sport
  11. fall — to drop
  12. fall — the season
  13. hide — to keep secret
  14. field — farmland
  15. court — of law
  16. chair — a professorship
  17. field — a subject
  18. bark — of a tree
  19. court — of a king
  20. chair — a leader
  21. staff — employees
  22. hide — to keep secret
  23. staff — employees
  24. field — for sport

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