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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  3. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  6. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  7. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  8. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  9. There's no middle ________________.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. The ________________ took off on time.
  12. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  16. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  17. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  18. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  19. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  20. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  21. That was a fun ________________.
  22. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  23. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. current — electric
  3. degree — temperature
  4. degree — from a university
  5. current — of water
  6. bark — to shout
  7. bark — of a tree
  8. plane — a tool
  9. ground — a position
  10. hand — help
  11. plane — an aircraft
  12. ground — crushed
  13. hand — in cards
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. game — wild animals
  16. ground — the earth
  17. lean — thin
  18. plane — in geometry
  19. bark — a dog's sound
  20. lean — to bend
  21. game — a match
  22. lean — to rest against
  23. current — happening now
  24. hand — part of the body

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