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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: bark · cold · fine · club · degree · root · hand · patient

  1. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  4. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  5. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  10. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  11. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  12. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  16. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  19. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  20. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  21. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.

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

Answer key

  1. club — for golf
  2. hand — help
  3. patient — a sick person
  4. bark — a dog's sound
  5. bark — of a tree
  6. degree — an amount
  7. cold — not warm
  8. hand — in cards
  9. fine — all right
  10. patient — a sick person
  11. bark — to shout
  12. club — for dancing
  13. degree — temperature
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. root — of a plant
  16. club — a group
  17. degree — from a university
  18. fine — high quality
  19. fine — a penalty
  20. root — of a word
  21. patient — calm and waiting
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. cold — an illness
  24. root — the cause

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