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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  2. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. How do you ________________ your surname?
  5. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  6. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  7. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  8. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  9. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  10. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  11. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  12. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  18. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. jam — a tight spot
  3. game — a match
  4. spell — letters
  5. prune — to trim
  6. game — wild animals
  7. jam — to spread on bread
  8. bark — to shout
  9. spell — magic
  10. spell — a short time
  11. jam — in traffic
  12. prune — the fruit
  13. degree — from a university
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. degree — an amount
  16. degree — temperature
  17. prune — to trim
  18. bark — of a tree

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