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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 120 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 · fine · content · spell · degree · band · lean · mine

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  4. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  5. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  6. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  7. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  8. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  11. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  12. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  13. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. How do you ________________ your surname?
  20. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  21. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  22. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  23. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  24. He is as ________________ as a wolf.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. mine — belonging to me
  3. lean — to bend
  4. fine — high quality
  5. spell — a short time
  6. fine — a penalty
  7. band — a ring
  8. band — a rubber band
  9. degree — temperature
  10. band — a music group
  11. content — videos and posts
  12. bark — of a tree
  13. bark — to shout
  14. content — the amount
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. degree — an amount
  17. mine — for digging
  18. degree — from a university
  19. spell — letters
  20. spell — magic
  21. bark — a dog's sound
  22. lean — to rest against
  23. fine — all right
  24. lean — thin

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