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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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. There's no middle ________________.
  3. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  6. Have you settled on a ________________?
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  9. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  10. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  11. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  12. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  13. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  14. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  15. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  16. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  17. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  18. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  19. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. ground — a position
  3. date — the fruit
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. ground — crushed
  6. date — on the calendar
  7. degree — an amount
  8. bark — of a tree
  9. racket — a loud noise
  10. bark — a dog's sound
  11. band — a rubber band
  12. racket — for tennis
  13. leaves — of a tree
  14. racket — for tennis
  15. band — a music group
  16. bark — to shout
  17. band — a ring
  18. leaves — lets stay
  19. date — on the calendar
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. leaves — to go away
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. ground — the earth
  24. degree — temperature

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