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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: rest · court · tear · jam · bark · date · degree · cell

  1. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  9. Have you settled on a ________________?
  10. He was locked up in a ________________.
  11. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  12. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  13. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  14. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  17. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  18. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  19. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  20. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  21. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — a dog's sound
  2. degree — an amount
  3. tear — from crying
  4. court — of law
  5. tear — from crying
  6. degree — temperature
  7. court — for sport
  8. jam — in traffic
  9. date — on the calendar
  10. cell — in a prison
  11. date — on the calendar
  12. jam — to spread on bread
  13. date — the fruit
  14. jam — a tight spot
  15. degree — from a university
  16. rest — a break
  17. rest — what's left
  18. bark — to shout
  19. cell — a phone
  20. bark — of a tree
  21. rest — what's left
  22. cell — in biology
  23. tear — to rip
  24. court — of a king

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