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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 120 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. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  2. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  4. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  11. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  16. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  17. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  21. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  24. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — a dog's sound
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. kick — in football
  4. bark — to shout
  5. degree — temperature
  6. field — a subject
  7. field — farmland
  8. kick — a thrill
  9. shower — rain
  10. net — for catching
  11. net — after costs
  12. field — for sport
  13. drill — the tool
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. lash — to lash out
  16. net — in sport
  17. lash — an eyelash
  18. degree — from a university
  19. degree — an amount
  20. drill — a practice
  21. kick — with a leg
  22. shower — to wash
  23. lash — a whip stroke
  24. drill — army training

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