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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: bark · degree · scale · march · cell · root

  1. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  2. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  5. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  6. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  7. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  10. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  11. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  18. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — a dog's sound
  2. cell — a phone
  3. march — the month
  4. march — music
  5. scale — in music
  6. scale — for weighing
  7. bark — of a tree
  8. degree — an amount
  9. cell — in biology
  10. root — the cause
  11. march — the month
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. bark — to shout
  14. degree — from a university
  15. root — of a plant
  16. degree — temperature
  17. root — of a word
  18. scale — size or range

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