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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: bark · degree · content · plane · fine · cold · stem · file

  1. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  5. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  6. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  9. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  10. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  17. The ________________ took off on time.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. fine — all right
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. stem — of a plant
  5. stem — a stem cell
  6. fine — high quality
  7. cold — not warm
  8. stem — to come from
  9. bark — of a tree
  10. plane — a tool
  11. degree — temperature
  12. degree — from a university
  13. content — happy
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. plane — in geometry
  17. plane — an aircraft
  18. degree — an amount
  19. fine — a penalty
  20. cold — an illness
  21. bark — to shout
  22. file — a tool
  23. file — a line of people
  24. file — a document

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