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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: fall · bark · degree · clip · object · tear

  1. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  2. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  3. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  4. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  8. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  9. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  10. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  11. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  12. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  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. bark — of a tree
  2. degree — temperature
  3. fall — the season
  4. object — a thing
  5. clip — to cut
  6. clip — a video
  7. bark — a dog's sound
  8. object — to protest
  9. tear — from crying
  10. fall — to drop
  11. bark — to shout
  12. tear — to rip
  13. degree — an amount
  14. fall — to drop
  15. tear — from crying
  16. clip — for paper
  17. object — an aim
  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