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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. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  5. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  6. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  7. I'll be taking the ________________.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  10. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. The light ________________ burned out.
  13. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  14. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  15. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  16. I've got to change the light ________________.
  17. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  20. We're on a ________________ here.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. staff — employees
  3. row — a line
  4. row — to paddle
  5. bulb — of a plant
  6. roll — a cake
  7. tube — the underground
  8. spring — of water
  9. tube — in a tire
  10. bark — a dog's sound
  11. spring — a coil
  12. bulb — for light
  13. tube — a container
  14. staff — a stick
  15. roll — a list
  16. bulb — for light
  17. bark — of a tree
  18. degree — an amount
  19. bark — to shout
  20. roll — on a roll
  21. spring — the season
  22. staff — employees
  23. degree — temperature
  24. degree — from a university

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