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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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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: pit · degree · fork · bark · kid · drill

  1. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  7. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  8. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  9. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  10. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  11. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  12. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  15. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  16. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. degree — an amount
  3. bark — a dog's sound
  4. degree — temperature
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. fork — to eat with
  7. bark — of a tree
  8. pit — a fruit stone
  9. fork — in a road
  10. drill — the tool
  11. drill — a practice
  12. pit — in a race
  13. kid — to tease
  14. bark — to shout
  15. pit — a hole
  16. fork — a garden tool
  17. degree — from a university
  18. drill — army training

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