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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  7. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  8. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  9. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  10. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  11. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  12. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. David sat on the ________________.
  17. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  18. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  24. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. degree — from a university
  3. trunk — of a car
  4. game — wild animals
  5. degree — an amount
  6. trunk — of an elephant
  7. bark — a dog's sound
  8. bark — of a tree
  9. trunk — of a tree
  10. swing — in golf
  11. present — the time now
  12. club — a group
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. cold — not warm
  15. game — a match
  16. swing — to play on
  17. present — there
  18. club — for golf
  19. cold — an illness
  20. degree — temperature
  21. club — for dancing
  22. swing — music
  23. bark — to shout
  24. present — a gift

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