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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. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  5. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  9. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  10. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  11. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  12. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  15. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of a car
  2. capital — money
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. trunk — of a tree
  5. trunk — of an elephant
  6. wind — moving air
  7. degree — from a university
  8. row — to paddle
  9. bark — to shout
  10. rest — what's left
  11. rest — what's left
  12. row — a line
  13. degree — temperature
  14. row — a quarrel
  15. bark — of a tree
  16. degree — an amount
  17. kid — to tease
  18. capital — a city
  19. rest — a break
  20. wind — moving air
  21. bark — a dog's sound
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. kid — child

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