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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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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: race · perch · tube · fork · fall · degree · rush · root

  1. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  3. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  4. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  5. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  6. I'll be taking the ________________.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  9. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  10. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  11. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  12. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  13. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  14. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  15. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  16. That must've been a ________________.
  17. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  18. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  19. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  20. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  21. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  22. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. race — humankind
  3. perch — for a bird
  4. race — a contest
  5. perch — the fish
  6. tube — the underground
  7. degree — temperature
  8. rush — to hurry
  9. race — the arms race
  10. fork — to eat with
  11. fork — a garden tool
  12. fall — to drop
  13. fork — in a road
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. rush — hurry
  16. rush — a thrill
  17. tube — in a tire
  18. fall — the season
  19. root — of a word
  20. tube — a container
  21. fall — to drop
  22. root — the cause
  23. degree — an amount
  24. root — of a plant

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