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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. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  2. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  3. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  4. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  5. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  8. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  9. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  10. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  11. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  12. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  15. The ________________ went through the wall.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  18. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  22. That was a fun ________________.
  23. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  24. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — of a tree
  2. kick — a thrill
  3. drill — the tool
  4. bark — to shout
  5. drill — army training
  6. degree — from a university
  7. chest — of your body
  8. game — wild animals
  9. stem — to come from
  10. kick — in football
  11. bark — a dog's sound
  12. stem — of a plant
  13. degree — temperature
  14. nail — for a hammer
  15. nail — for a hammer
  16. chest — a box
  17. game — a kind of play
  18. nail — on a finger
  19. degree — an amount
  20. chest — of your body
  21. drill — a practice
  22. game — a match
  23. stem — a stem cell
  24. kick — with a leg

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