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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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468
Word bank
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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. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  2. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  3. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  4. How do you ________________ your surname?
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  7. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  8. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  9. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  10. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  11. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  12. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  13. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  16. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  20. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  21. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  22. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. hide — to keep secret
  3. leaves — to go away
  4. spell — letters
  5. degree — from a university
  6. leaves — lets stay
  7. racket — a loud noise
  8. bark — a dog's sound
  9. racket — for tennis
  10. chair — to sit on
  11. spell — a short time
  12. leaves — of a tree
  13. racket — for tennis
  14. degree — temperature
  15. hide — animal skin
  16. bark — to shout
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. degree — an amount
  19. chair — a professorship
  20. spell — magic
  21. bark — of a tree
  22. chair — a leader
  23. cold — not warm
  24. cold — an illness

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