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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: row · bowl · degree · hand · bark · sharp · pit · toast

  1. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. It's one o'clock ________________.
  3. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  4. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  5. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  6. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  7. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  10. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  14. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  17. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  18. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  19. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  24. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. sharp — exactly
  3. bowl — to roll
  4. bowl — a football final
  5. toast — a drink to someone
  6. pit — a fruit stone
  7. bark — of a tree
  8. degree — an amount
  9. row — to paddle
  10. row — a line
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. sharp — with an edge
  14. bark — to shout
  15. degree — temperature
  16. bowl — a dish
  17. sharp — clever
  18. toast — the most admired
  19. bark — a dog's sound
  20. degree — from a university
  21. pit — a hole
  22. hand — in cards
  23. toast — bread
  24. pit — in a race

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