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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. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  2. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  6. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  7. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  12. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  19. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  20. There's no middle ________________.
  21. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  22. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — a box
  2. ground — crushed
  3. patient — a sick person
  4. chest — of your body
  5. bark — to shout
  6. net — after costs
  7. bark — of a tree
  8. land — a country
  9. net — for catching
  10. degree — temperature
  11. trunk — of a tree
  12. trunk — of an elephant
  13. degree — an amount
  14. net — in sport
  15. degree — from a university
  16. land — ground
  17. chest — of your body
  18. patient — a sick person
  19. trunk — of a car
  20. ground — a position
  21. patient — calm and waiting
  22. bark — a dog's sound
  23. land — to come down
  24. ground — the earth

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