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

Word bank: tear · pound · degree · cell · bark · bore

  1. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  2. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  6. He was locked up in a ________________.
  7. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  8. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  9. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  10. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  11. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  12. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — a dog's sound
  2. tear — from crying
  3. cell — in biology
  4. degree — from a university
  5. pound — for dogs
  6. cell — in a prison
  7. bore — gave birth
  8. pound — to hit hard
  9. bark — of a tree
  10. bark — to shout
  11. pound — a weight
  12. bore — to tire
  13. degree — temperature
  14. cell — a phone
  15. degree — an amount
  16. bore — to drill
  17. tear — to rip
  18. tear — from crying

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