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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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468
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 · degree · perch · root · squash · racket · sharp · court

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  3. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  4. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  5. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  8. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  9. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  10. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  11. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  12. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  13. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  14. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  17. The ball is in your ________________.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  20. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  21. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  22. It's one o'clock ________________.
  23. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  24. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. racket — for tennis
  3. root — of a plant
  4. sharp — clever
  5. bark — of a tree
  6. degree — from a university
  7. root — of a word
  8. squash — to crush
  9. court — of law
  10. racket — for tennis
  11. perch — for a bird
  12. squash — the vegetable
  13. bark — a dog's sound
  14. squash — the sport
  15. degree — temperature
  16. perch — the fish
  17. court — for sport
  18. court — of a king
  19. bark — to shout
  20. sharp — with an edge
  21. root — the cause
  22. sharp — exactly
  23. perch — for a bird
  24. racket — a loud noise

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