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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. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  2. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  5. You don't need to ________________ round.
  6. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  7. We're almost out of ________________.
  8. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  9. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  10. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  11. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  12. My father caught me by the ________________.
  13. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  22. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  23. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  24. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.

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

Answer key

  1. race — a contest
  2. pop — music
  3. degree — an amount
  4. bark — of a tree
  5. pop — to visit
  6. face — to confront
  7. pop — soda
  8. face — to point toward
  9. stem — to come from
  10. face — part of the head
  11. bark — a dog's sound
  12. arm — part of the body
  13. arm — a part of something
  14. degree — from a university
  15. field — farmland
  16. degree — temperature
  17. race — the arms race
  18. field — a subject
  19. arm — part of the body
  20. field — for sport
  21. stem — of a plant
  22. race — humankind
  23. bark — to shout
  24. stem — a stem cell

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