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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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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 · bat · field · band · fork · wind · plane · perch

  1. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  2. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  3. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  4. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  5. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. The ________________ took off on time.
  12. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  13. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  21. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  22. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  23. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  24. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — to turn a key
  2. fork — to eat with
  3. wind — moving air
  4. bark — of a tree
  5. perch — for a bird
  6. bat — the animal
  7. band — a music group
  8. field — farmland
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. plane — an aircraft
  12. fork — in a road
  13. band — a ring
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. fork — a garden tool
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. field — a subject
  18. plane — in geometry
  19. field — for sport
  20. wind — moving air
  21. bark — to shout
  22. perch — the fish
  23. plane — a tool
  24. perch — for a bird

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