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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 sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  2. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  6. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  7. Have you settled on a ________________?
  8. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  9. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  18. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  19. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  20. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  21. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — to shout
  2. fork — in a road
  3. field — farmland
  4. cold — not warm
  5. kick — in football
  6. date — on the calendar
  7. date — on the calendar
  8. kick — a thrill
  9. fork — a garden tool
  10. field — for sport
  11. squash — to crush
  12. degree — from a university
  13. field — a subject
  14. degree — temperature
  15. kick — with a leg
  16. degree — an amount
  17. fork — to eat with
  18. bark — a dog's sound
  19. squash — the sport
  20. squash — the vegetable
  21. date — the fruit
  22. cold — an illness
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. bark — of a tree

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