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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 116 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: kid · land · bark · snap · season · row · straw · degree

  1. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  8. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  9. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  13. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  14. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  19. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  20. Did you ________________ the meat?
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. row — to paddle
  3. kid — to tease
  4. bark — to shout
  5. degree — an amount
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. season — in sport
  8. straw — a straw man
  9. bark — a dog's sound
  10. land — ground
  11. degree — temperature
  12. bark — of a tree
  13. snap — to speak sharply
  14. season — of the year
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. snap — to click
  17. land — to come down
  18. snap — to snap out of it
  19. row — a quarrel
  20. season — to add flavour
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. degree — from a university
  23. kid — child
  24. row — a line

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