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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. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  8. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  9. The King held a masked ________________.
  10. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  11. The ________________ market has crashed.
  12. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  20. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — of a tree
  2. degree — an amount
  3. kid — child
  4. file — a tool
  5. stock — goods
  6. degree — temperature
  7. bark — to shout
  8. bark — a dog's sound
  9. ball — a dance
  10. stock — a soup base
  11. stock — shares
  12. fine — high quality
  13. kid — to tease
  14. degree — from a university
  15. fine — a penalty
  16. file — a line of people
  17. field — farmland
  18. field — a subject
  19. fine — all right
  20. ball — a great time
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. file — a document
  23. ball — a round shape
  24. field — for sport

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