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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 116 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: ground · row · cell · bark · field · chip · land · hide

  1. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  2. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  3. There's no middle ________________.
  4. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  5. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  10. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  11. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  14. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  15. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  16. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  19. He was locked up in a ________________.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  24. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.

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

Answer key

  1. chip — to eat
  2. bark — a dog's sound
  3. ground — a position
  4. bark — of a tree
  5. bark — to shout
  6. land — to come down
  7. field — a subject
  8. field — farmland
  9. ground — crushed
  10. row — a line
  11. hide — to keep secret
  12. field — for sport
  13. hide — to keep secret
  14. chip — in a computer
  15. row — a quarrel
  16. ground — the earth
  17. cell — in biology
  18. cell — a phone
  19. cell — in a prison
  20. row — to paddle
  21. land — ground
  22. land — a country
  23. chip — for betting
  24. hide — animal skin

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