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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: degree · kid · face · object · wake · saw · present · bark

  1. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  4. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. He works in a ________________ mill.
  7. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  8. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  9. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  10. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  13. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  16. She's very handy with a ________________.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  19. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  20. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  21. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  22. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  23. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  24. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. degree — from a university
  3. face — to confront
  4. wake — a trail
  5. degree — temperature
  6. saw — the tool
  7. wake — before a funeral
  8. wake — to stop sleeping
  9. bark — to shout
  10. bark — of a tree
  11. kid — child
  12. present — there
  13. bark — a dog's sound
  14. degree — an amount
  15. face — part of the head
  16. saw — the tool
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. object — a thing
  19. present — a gift
  20. object — an aim
  21. present — the time now
  22. face — to point toward
  23. saw — past of 'see'
  24. object — to protest

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