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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. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  2. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  4. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  5. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  6. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  16. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  17. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  18. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  24. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — to shout
  2. wound — an injury
  3. wound — past of 'wind'
  4. wind — moving air
  5. wind — to turn a key
  6. wound — an injury
  7. degree — temperature
  8. chest — of your body
  9. file — a line of people
  10. march — the month
  11. degree — from a university
  12. chest — of your body
  13. degree — an amount
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. march — the month
  16. lean — to bend
  17. wind — moving air
  18. lean — thin
  19. file — a tool
  20. file — a document
  21. march — music
  22. chest — a box
  23. lean — to rest against
  24. bark — of a tree

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