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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 120 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.

Words on the sheet
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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 · fall · bear · ground · wound · bark · last · scale

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  6. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  9. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  10. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  11. There's no middle ________________.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  14. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  15. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  16. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  17. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  18. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  19. False peace will not ________________.
  20. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  21. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  22. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  23. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  24. At ________________, we arrived at the village.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. wound — an injury
  3. bark — a dog's sound
  4. last — final
  5. fall — to drop
  6. ground — crushed
  7. degree — from a university
  8. wound — past of 'wind'
  9. fall — to drop
  10. fall — the season
  11. ground — a position
  12. degree — temperature
  13. scale — in music
  14. bear — the animal
  15. wound — an injury
  16. scale — size or range
  17. ground — the earth
  18. bear — to put up with
  19. last — to go on
  20. bark — of a tree
  21. bark — to shout
  22. scale — for weighing
  23. bear — the animal
  24. last — finally

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