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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. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  4. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  5. He was locked up in a ________________.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. There's no middle ________________.
  8. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  9. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  10. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  11. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  16. I can't ________________ this cold.
  17. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  22. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  23. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  24. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — temperature
  2. kid — to tease
  3. bark — to shout
  4. ground — crushed
  5. cell — in a prison
  6. degree — from a university
  7. ground — a position
  8. trunk — of an elephant
  9. stand — on your feet
  10. rest — what's left
  11. ground — the earth
  12. cell — a phone
  13. bark — of a tree
  14. degree — an amount
  15. bark — a dog's sound
  16. stand — to bear
  17. trunk — of a tree
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. cell — in biology
  20. kid — child
  21. trunk — of a car
  22. rest — a break
  23. rest — what's left
  24. stand — for spectators

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