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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
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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 · coach · ground · game · bark · row · spell · hand

  1. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  9. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  10. There's no middle ________________.
  11. Have you met the new head ________________?
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  16. How do you ________________ your surname?
  17. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  18. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  21. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. ground — crushed
  3. spell — a short time
  4. game — a match
  5. row — a line
  6. hand — help
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. bark — a dog's sound
  9. ground — the earth
  10. ground — a position
  11. coach — a trainer
  12. field — farmland
  13. bark — of a tree
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. bark — to shout
  16. spell — letters
  17. row — to paddle
  18. coach — pulled by horses
  19. hand — in cards
  20. row — a quarrel
  21. coach — a trainer
  22. field — a subject
  23. spell — magic
  24. game — wild animals

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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