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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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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. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  2. What do you think of the new ________________?
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  7. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  21. Did you ________________ the button?
  22. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.

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

Answer key

  1. cabinet — a cupboard
  2. cabinet — ministers
  3. degree — from a university
  4. root — the cause
  5. degree — an amount
  6. press — a publisher
  7. bark — to shout
  8. degree — temperature
  9. root — of a word
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. field — farmland
  12. press — newspapers
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. hand — in cards
  15. hand — help
  16. field — a subject
  17. bark — a dog's sound
  18. kid — child
  19. kid — to tease
  20. bark — of a tree
  21. press — to push
  22. cabinet — ministers
  23. field — for sport
  24. root — of a plant

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