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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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  5. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  8. Have you met the new head ________________?
  9. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  10. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  15. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  16. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  17. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  18. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  22. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  23. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. bat — the animal
  4. bark — a dog's sound
  5. perch — for a bird
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. coach — pulled by horses
  8. coach — a trainer
  9. file — a tool
  10. coach — a trainer
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. fan — a supporter
  13. degree — temperature
  14. fan — to cool the air
  15. bark — to shout
  16. prune — to trim
  17. perch — for a bird
  18. prune — to trim
  19. degree — an amount
  20. file — a line of people
  21. perch — the fish
  22. prune — the fruit
  23. fan — a supporter
  24. file — a document

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