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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. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  2. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  3. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  4. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  7. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  8. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  9. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  10. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  11. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  17. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  21. Have you met the new head ________________?
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  24. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.

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

Answer key

  1. deal — an agreement
  2. prune — to trim
  3. chair — a professorship
  4. bark — of a tree
  5. degree — temperature
  6. prune — the fruit
  7. bark — to shout
  8. chair — to sit on
  9. prune — to trim
  10. coach — a trainer
  11. bark — a dog's sound
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. deal — a big deal
  14. mine — for digging
  15. degree — from a university
  16. deal — to handle
  17. coach — pulled by horses
  18. wound — an injury
  19. degree — an amount
  20. wound — past of 'wind'
  21. coach — a trainer
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. wound — an injury
  24. chair — a leader

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