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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: degree · pass · land · saw · bark · field · sharp · date

  1. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  2. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  3. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  4. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  5. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  6. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. She's very handy with a ________________.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  12. Have you settled on a ________________?
  13. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  14. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. It's one o'clock ________________.
  20. He works in a ________________ mill.
  21. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  24. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — a dog's sound
  2. date — on the calendar
  3. pass — a permit
  4. sharp — clever
  5. land — ground
  6. pass — to succeed
  7. degree — an amount
  8. saw — the tool
  9. field — a subject
  10. degree — temperature
  11. sharp — with an edge
  12. date — on the calendar
  13. bark — to shout
  14. pass — to spend time
  15. land — a country
  16. saw — past of 'see'
  17. land — to come down
  18. field — for sport
  19. sharp — exactly
  20. saw — the tool
  21. date — the fruit
  22. field — farmland
  23. bark — of a tree
  24. degree — from a university

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