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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. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  2. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. This piece is in a major ________________.
  6. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. My mare is ________________ in color.
  14. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  15. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  16. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  17. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  18. That was ________________ to happen.
  19. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  20. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  21. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  22. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  23. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  24. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.

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

Answer key

  1. key — for a lock
  2. pound — for dogs
  3. cold — an illness
  4. degree — from a university
  5. key — in music
  6. key — the most important part
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. pound — to hit hard
  9. degree — temperature
  10. bark — a dog's sound
  11. cold — not warm
  12. degree — an amount
  13. bay — a horse colour
  14. bark — to shout
  15. bark — of a tree
  16. pound — a weight
  17. bound — tied together
  18. bound — certain
  19. bound — obliged
  20. chip — in a computer
  21. bay — to keep at bay
  22. chip — to eat
  23. bay — a part of the sea
  24. chip — for betting

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