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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: bark · straw · cell · staff · field · track · game · row

  1. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  2. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  8. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  9. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  12. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  13. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  16. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  17. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  23. He was locked up in a ________________.
  24. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. cell — a phone
  3. field — a subject
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. cell — in biology
  6. field — farmland
  7. row — a line
  8. staff — employees
  9. bark — to shout
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. staff — a stick
  12. bark — of a tree
  13. track — a path
  14. game — a match
  15. track — a song
  16. game — a kind of play
  17. game — wild animals
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. track — to keep track
  20. row — to paddle
  21. field — for sport
  22. straw — to clutch at straws
  23. cell — in a prison
  24. bark — a dog's sound

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