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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: stem · saw · degree · clip · bark · bowl · game · shower

  1. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  6. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. She's very handy with a ________________.
  9. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  10. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  13. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  18. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  21. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. He works in a ________________ mill.

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

Answer key

  1. stem — to come from
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. bowl — to roll
  4. degree — temperature
  5. bark — to shout
  6. saw — past of 'see'
  7. game — a match
  8. saw — the tool
  9. stem — a stem cell
  10. game — wild animals
  11. degree — from a university
  12. bowl — a dish
  13. stem — of a plant
  14. clip — to cut
  15. clip — for paper
  16. shower — rain
  17. bark — a dog's sound
  18. shower — to wash
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. bowl — a football final
  21. bark — of a tree
  22. degree — an amount
  23. clip — a video
  24. saw — the tool

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