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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: pop · sharp · field · cap · bark · kick · face · kid

  1. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  4. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. You don't need to ________________ round.
  7. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  8. We're almost out of ________________.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  11. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  15. It's one o'clock ________________.
  16. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  17. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  18. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  19. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  20. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  23. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  24. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. face — part of the head
  4. cap — of ice
  5. field — for sport
  6. pop — to visit
  7. face — to point toward
  8. pop — soda
  9. field — a subject
  10. pop — music
  11. sharp — clever
  12. kid — to tease
  13. kid — child
  14. cap — a hat
  15. sharp — exactly
  16. cap — a lid
  17. sharp — with an edge
  18. bark — to shout
  19. kick — in football
  20. face — to confront
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. bark — a dog's sound
  23. kick — a thrill
  24. kick — with a leg

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