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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 ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  4. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  7. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. That must've been a ________________.
  10. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  11. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  12. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  13. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  14. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  15. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  16. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  20. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. root — of a word
  2. degree — from a university
  3. root — of a plant
  4. rush — hurry
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. bark — to shout
  7. shower — rain
  8. shower — to wash
  9. rush — a thrill
  10. root — the cause
  11. chip — to eat
  12. bark — of a tree
  13. bark — a dog's sound
  14. chip — in a computer
  15. branch — of a tree
  16. rush — to hurry
  17. degree — temperature
  18. cold — an illness
  19. branch — a division
  20. chip — for betting
  21. cold — not warm
  22. branch — of a bank
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. degree — an amount

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