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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  3. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  4. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  5. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  6. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  7. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  8. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. I'll be taking the ________________.
  11. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  12. Don't do anything ________________.
  13. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  17. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  18. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  21. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  22. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  23. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. dip — to dunk
  3. bark — of a tree
  4. wave — of the sea
  5. trunk — of a car
  6. wave — with your hand
  7. trunk — of an elephant
  8. tube — a container
  9. kid — child
  10. tube — the underground
  11. dip — to sink
  12. rash — hasty
  13. bark — a dog's sound
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. degree — from a university
  16. tube — in a tire
  17. rash — a series
  18. rash — on the skin
  19. degree — temperature
  20. wave — a sudden rise
  21. dip — a sauce
  22. bark — to shout
  23. trunk — of a tree
  24. degree — an amount

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