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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 120 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 get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  2. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  3. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  6. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  7. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  8. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  9. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  19. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  20. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. kick — a thrill
  2. bark — a dog's sound
  3. branch — of a bank
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. track — a song
  6. track — to keep track
  7. kick — in football
  8. mouse — the animal
  9. bark — to shout
  10. game — a match
  11. kick — with a leg
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. mouse — the animal
  14. bat — the animal
  15. track — a path
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. degree — from a university
  18. mouse — for a computer
  19. branch — of a tree
  20. branch — a division
  21. degree — temperature
  22. game — wild animals
  23. bark — of a tree
  24. degree — an amount

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