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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: cold · vault · bark · cell · degree · bass

  1. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  2. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  5. He was locked up in a ________________.
  6. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  7. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  8. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — of a tree
  2. bark — to shout
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. bark — a dog's sound
  5. cell — in a prison
  6. vault — an arched ceiling
  7. vault — in gymnastics
  8. bass — low music
  9. cold — an illness
  10. bass — the fish
  11. cold — not warm
  12. degree — an amount
  13. bass — the instrument
  14. degree — from a university
  15. degree — temperature
  16. cell — a phone
  17. cell — in biology
  18. vault — a safe

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