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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 116 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. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  3. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  6. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. The ________________ took off on time.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  18. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  21. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  24. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. bark — a dog's sound
  3. bark — of a tree
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. pit — a hole
  6. file — a document
  7. game — a match
  8. tear — to rip
  9. game — wild animals
  10. file — a tool
  11. pit — a fruit stone
  12. degree — from a university
  13. plane — an aircraft
  14. row — to paddle
  15. degree — an amount
  16. degree — temperature
  17. row — a line
  18. plane — a tool
  19. file — a line of people
  20. bark — to shout
  21. pit — in a race
  22. tear — from crying
  23. game — a kind of play
  24. plane — in geometry

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