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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: bark · kick · charge · cell · land · degree

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  3. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  4. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  5. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  6. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  7. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  10. The tickets are free of ________________.
  11. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  12. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. He was locked up in a ________________.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  17. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. charge — electricity
  3. bark — a dog's sound
  4. bark — to shout
  5. kick — a thrill
  6. kick — in football
  7. cell — in biology
  8. land — to come down
  9. land — a country
  10. charge — a price
  11. bark — of a tree
  12. kick — with a leg
  13. cell — a phone
  14. cell — in a prison
  15. degree — temperature
  16. land — ground
  17. charge — in control
  18. degree — from a university

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