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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. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  2. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  6. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  7. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  10. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  11. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  12. My father caught me by the ________________.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  15. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  16. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  19. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  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. rule — a law
  2. fork — a garden tool
  3. hand — in cards
  4. degree — an amount
  5. rule — to rule out
  6. dip — to sink
  7. bark — of a tree
  8. degree — temperature
  9. fork — in a road
  10. bark — a dog's sound
  11. dip — to dunk
  12. arm — part of the body
  13. clip — for paper
  14. bark — to shout
  15. fork — to eat with
  16. rule — government
  17. hand — help
  18. arm — part of the body
  19. arm — a part of something
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. dip — a sauce
  22. clip — to cut
  23. clip — a video
  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