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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 116 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. That was a fun ________________.
  2. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  3. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  7. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  8. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  9. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  10. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  11. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  12. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  13. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  14. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  17. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  21. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. David sat on the ________________.
  24. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. bark — to shout
  3. degree — temperature
  4. degree — an amount
  5. tear — from crying
  6. shower — rain
  7. bark — of a tree
  8. game — wild animals
  9. face — to confront
  10. tear — to rip
  11. root — of a word
  12. face — to point toward
  13. face — part of the head
  14. swing — music
  15. shower — to wash
  16. swing — in golf
  17. root — the cause
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. degree — from a university
  20. bark — a dog's sound
  21. root — of a plant
  22. tear — from crying
  23. swing — to play on
  24. game — a kind of play

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