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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. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  6. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  7. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  10. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  13. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  14. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  17. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  18. Have you met the new head ________________?
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  21. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. coach — pulled by horses
  2. degree — from a university
  3. fall — the season
  4. degree — an amount
  5. fall — to drop
  6. fall — to drop
  7. root — of a plant
  8. spring — of water
  9. root — the cause
  10. wound — an injury
  11. spring — the season
  12. bark — to shout
  13. root — of a word
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. dip — to dunk
  17. dip — a sauce
  18. coach — a trainer
  19. degree — temperature
  20. dip — to sink
  21. bark — of a tree
  22. wound — an injury
  23. bark — a dog's sound
  24. spring — a coil

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