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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 116 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. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  2. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  3. The ball is in your ________________.
  4. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  11. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  12. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  13. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  14. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  17. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  18. There's a computer ________________ on the table.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — temperature
  2. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  3. court — for sport
  4. bark — of a tree
  5. kid — child
  6. degree — from a university
  7. chair — a professorship
  8. degree — an amount
  9. court — of a king
  10. bark — to shout
  11. chair — to sit on
  12. court — of law
  13. chip — for betting
  14. chip — to eat
  15. kid — to tease
  16. chair — a leader
  17. bark — a dog's sound
  18. chip — in a computer

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