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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: kick · kid · bark · degree · chest · ruler · row · plane

  1. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. The ________________ took off on time.
  9. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  12. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  13. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  14. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  15. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  16. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  17. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  18. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  19. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  20. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  21. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  22. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  23. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  3. chest — a box
  4. degree — from a university
  5. bark — of a tree
  6. degree — an amount
  7. degree — temperature
  8. plane — an aircraft
  9. plane — in geometry
  10. chest — of your body
  11. kid — to tease
  12. ruler — for measuring
  13. ruler — for measuring
  14. ruler — a monarch
  15. kick — in football
  16. row — a line
  17. row — to paddle
  18. plane — a tool
  19. kick — a thrill
  20. bark — a dog's sound
  21. kick — with a leg
  22. bark — to shout
  23. chest — of your body
  24. kid — child

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