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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: spell · last · field · arm · file · ball · board · bark

  1. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  2. My father caught me by the ________________.
  3. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  4. The King held a masked ________________.
  5. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  6. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  9. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  10. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  13. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  17. How do you ________________ your surname?
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  20. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  21. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  24. False peace will not ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a great time
  2. arm — part of the body
  3. arm — part of the body
  4. ball — a dance
  5. last — final
  6. bark — to shout
  7. field — for sport
  8. bark — of a tree
  9. board — to get on
  10. ball — a round shape
  11. file — a tool
  12. board — a flat piece
  13. board — a committee
  14. file — a document
  15. field — a subject
  16. spell — magic
  17. spell — letters
  18. file — a line of people
  19. bark — a dog's sound
  20. last — finally
  21. spell — a short time
  22. field — farmland
  23. arm — a part of something
  24. last — to go on

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