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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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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: lash · plane · root · cell · court · degree · wind · bark

  1. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  3. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  4. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  5. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  6. The ball is in your ________________.
  7. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  8. The ________________ took off on time.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  11. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  14. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  17. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  18. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  19. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  23. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  24. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. lash — a whip stroke
  3. bark — of a tree
  4. lash — an eyelash
  5. court — of a king
  6. court — for sport
  7. root — of a plant
  8. plane — an aircraft
  9. wind — moving air
  10. cell — in biology
  11. root — the cause
  12. degree — from a university
  13. bark — to shout
  14. plane — in geometry
  15. degree — temperature
  16. plane — a tool
  17. degree — an amount
  18. lash — to lash out
  19. root — of a word
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. bark — a dog's sound
  23. court — of law
  24. cell — a phone

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