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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: face · track · dip · trunk · field · press · straw · bark

  1. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  4. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  5. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  6. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  7. Did you ________________ the button?
  8. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  9. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  10. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  11. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  14. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  17. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  21. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  22. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  23. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. track — to keep track
  2. field — farmland
  3. face — to point toward
  4. track — a song
  5. trunk — of a car
  6. press — a publisher
  7. press — to push
  8. bark — a dog's sound
  9. trunk — of an elephant
  10. bark — of a tree
  11. dip — to sink
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. face — part of the head
  14. face — to confront
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. trunk — of a tree
  17. dip — a sauce
  18. field — a subject
  19. field — for sport
  20. dip — to dunk
  21. press — newspapers
  22. track — a path
  23. bark — to shout
  24. straw — dry grass

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