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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. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  6. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  9. He is an ace ________________.
  10. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. We're on a ________________ here.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  19. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  22. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  23. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  24. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.

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

Answer key

  1. leaves — of a tree
  2. cold — not warm
  3. leaves — lets stay
  4. cold — an illness
  5. club — for dancing
  6. bark — a dog's sound
  7. hand — in cards
  8. bark — to shout
  9. pitcher — in baseball
  10. club — a group
  11. degree — from a university
  12. hand — help
  13. degree — an amount
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. degree — temperature
  16. roll — on a roll
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. roll — a list
  19. leaves — to go away
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. bark — of a tree
  22. club — for golf
  23. roll — a cake
  24. pitcher — a jug

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