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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: cabinet · object · bound · degree · race · bark · sharp · content

  1. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  2. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  3. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  4. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  5. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  8. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  9. That was ________________ to happen.
  10. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  11. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  16. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  21. What do you think of the new ________________?
  22. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  23. It's one o'clock ________________.
  24. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.

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

Answer key

  1. object — to protest
  2. race — humankind
  3. bark — of a tree
  4. sharp — clever
  5. race — a contest
  6. content — happy
  7. cabinet — a cupboard
  8. bound — obliged
  9. bound — certain
  10. content — videos and posts
  11. sharp — with an edge
  12. degree — temperature
  13. bark — a dog's sound
  14. degree — an amount
  15. object — an aim
  16. race — the arms race
  17. content — the amount
  18. bound — tied together
  19. degree — from a university
  20. object — a thing
  21. cabinet — ministers
  22. cabinet — ministers
  23. sharp — exactly
  24. bark — to shout

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