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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: root · file · bark · shower · tube · band · sharp · degree

  1. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  2. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  3. I'll be taking the ________________.
  4. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  9. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  10. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  11. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  15. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  16. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  17. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. It's one o'clock ________________.
  23. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a music group
  2. bark — a dog's sound
  3. tube — the underground
  4. tube — in a tire
  5. degree — an amount
  6. tube — a container
  7. file — a line of people
  8. root — of a plant
  9. root — of a word
  10. sharp — clever
  11. bark — of a tree
  12. shower — to wash
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. root — the cause
  15. band — a ring
  16. sharp — with an edge
  17. bark — to shout
  18. file — a tool
  19. degree — temperature
  20. file — a document
  21. degree — from a university
  22. sharp — exactly
  23. band — a rubber band
  24. shower — rain

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