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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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  7. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  8. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  9. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  12. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  13. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  14. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  15. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  16. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  17. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  18. He is an ace ________________.
  19. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  20. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  21. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  24. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. net — after costs
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. bark — of a tree
  5. degree — temperature
  6. rest — a break
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. wind — moving air
  9. rest — what's left
  10. degree — an amount
  11. scale — in music
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. net — for catching
  14. fine — all right
  15. scale — for weighing
  16. scale — size or range
  17. fine — a penalty
  18. pitcher — in baseball
  19. rest — what's left
  20. bark — a dog's sound
  21. bark — to shout
  22. wind — moving air
  23. net — in sport
  24. fine — high quality

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