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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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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: bark · degree · wind · bank · march · cue · mine · bat

  1. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  2. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  9. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  10. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  11. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  21. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — a dog's sound
  2. cue — a signal
  3. mine — belonging to me
  4. bank — of a river
  5. mine — for digging
  6. wind — moving air
  7. degree — from a university
  8. march — music
  9. march — the month
  10. bank — for money
  11. cue — a hint
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. cue — for pool
  14. bat — the animal
  15. degree — temperature
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. wind — moving air
  18. degree — an amount
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. bark — to shout
  21. bank — for money
  22. march — the month
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. bark — of a tree

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