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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. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  11. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  12. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  13. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  14. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  15. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  21. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  24. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. bark — a dog's sound
  4. mine — for digging
  5. hand — help
  6. rock — to move gently
  7. wind — moving air
  8. stem — to come from
  9. degree — from a university
  10. march — the month
  11. rock — music
  12. bark — of a tree
  13. march — music
  14. stem — a stem cell
  15. bark — to shout
  16. degree — an amount
  17. wind — moving air
  18. march — the month
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. wind — to turn a key
  21. rock — a stone
  22. degree — temperature
  23. hand — in cards
  24. stem — of a plant

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