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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. How do you ________________ your surname?
  2. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  3. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  4. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  5. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  6. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  7. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  8. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  11. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  12. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  18. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  19. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  24. This piece is in a major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — letters
  2. pitch — completely
  3. bark — of a tree
  4. squash — to crush
  5. bark — to shout
  6. squash — the vegetable
  7. pitch — a sales talk
  8. spell — magic
  9. degree — temperature
  10. key — for a lock
  11. squash — the sport
  12. root — of a word
  13. cold — not warm
  14. degree — from a university
  15. root — the cause
  16. degree — an amount
  17. key — the most important part
  18. pitch — a sports field
  19. bark — a dog's sound
  20. cold — an illness
  21. spell — a short time
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. root — of a plant
  24. key — in music

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