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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: bass · bulb · ground · bark · mouse · degree · branch · cold

  1. There's no middle ________________.
  2. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  5. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  6. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  7. I've got to change the light ________________.
  8. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  9. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  10. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  15. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  18. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  19. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  20. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  21. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  22. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  23. The light ________________ burned out.
  24. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — a position
  2. degree — temperature
  3. degree — an amount
  4. mouse — for a computer
  5. branch — a division
  6. bass — the instrument
  7. bulb — for light
  8. mouse — the animal
  9. bark — of a tree
  10. bark — a dog's sound
  11. degree — from a university
  12. cold — an illness
  13. cold — not warm
  14. mouse — the animal
  15. ground — the earth
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. ground — crushed
  18. branch — of a bank
  19. bark — to shout
  20. bulb — of a plant
  21. branch — of a tree
  22. bass — the fish
  23. bulb — for light
  24. bass — low music

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