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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. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  3. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  8. It's one o'clock ________________.
  9. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  10. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  11. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  12. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. I can't ________________ this cold.
  16. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  17. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  18. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  21. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — of a tree
  2. perch — the fish
  3. perch — for a bird
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. sharp — with an edge
  6. degree — temperature
  7. stand — for spectators
  8. sharp — exactly
  9. straw — a straw man
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. bark — to shout
  12. straw — dry grass
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. degree — an amount
  15. stand — to bear
  16. stand — on your feet
  17. bark — a dog's sound
  18. shower — to wash
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. sharp — clever
  21. mine — for digging
  22. shower — rain
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. degree — from a university

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