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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  3. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  6. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  7. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  8. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  9. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  10. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  11. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  12. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  17. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  18. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  19. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  22. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. hide — to keep secret
  3. face — part of the head
  4. degree — from a university
  5. bark — a dog's sound
  6. trunk — of a tree
  7. face — to point toward
  8. toast — a drink to someone
  9. trunk — of a car
  10. face — to confront
  11. race — the arms race
  12. trunk — of an elephant
  13. cold — not warm
  14. race — a contest
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. bark — of a tree
  17. toast — bread
  18. hide — animal skin
  19. hide — to keep secret
  20. cold — an illness
  21. bark — to shout
  22. toast — the most admired
  23. degree — temperature
  24. race — humankind

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