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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: field · land · mug · shower · court · suit · bark · row

  1. When will it ________________ you to start?
  2. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  9. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. The ball is in your ________________.
  15. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  16. Where did you ________________ them?
  17. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  20. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  21. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.

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

Answer key

  1. suit — to fit
  2. row — a quarrel
  3. row — a line
  4. suit — clothes
  5. field — a subject
  6. mug — a face
  7. field — farmland
  8. court — of law
  9. row — to paddle
  10. field — for sport
  11. suit — in cards
  12. shower — to wash
  13. land — a country
  14. court — for sport
  15. bark — a dog's sound
  16. mug — to rob
  17. bark — to shout
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. bark — of a tree
  20. mug — a cup
  21. land — ground
  22. shower — rain
  23. land — to come down
  24. court — of a king

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