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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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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: kid · file · bark · spell · lie · saw · tear · degree

  1. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  2. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  4. He works in a ________________ mill.
  5. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  18. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  19. How do you ________________ your surname?
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. She's very handy with a ________________.
  24. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. lie — an untruth
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. bark — to shout
  4. saw — the tool
  5. file — a line of people
  6. tear — from crying
  7. lie — an untruth
  8. kid — child
  9. bark — a dog's sound
  10. tear — from crying
  11. file — a document
  12. lie — to recline
  13. file — a tool
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. kid — to tease
  16. degree — an amount
  17. spell — a short time
  18. tear — to rip
  19. spell — letters
  20. degree — from a university
  21. saw — past of 'see'
  22. degree — temperature
  23. saw — the tool
  24. spell — magic

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