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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: bark · lie · degree · cold · last · band · wind · charge

  1. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. The tickets are free of ________________.
  7. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  8. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. False peace will not ________________.
  11. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  12. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  13. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  14. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  15. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  16. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  20. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  24. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — to turn a key
  2. band — a music group
  3. bark — a dog's sound
  4. cold — an illness
  5. degree — temperature
  6. charge — a price
  7. lie — an untruth
  8. last — final
  9. cold — not warm
  10. last — to go on
  11. wind — moving air
  12. bark — to shout
  13. lie — to recline
  14. charge — in control
  15. band — a ring
  16. charge — electricity
  17. wind — moving air
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. last — finally
  20. lie — an untruth
  21. degree — from a university
  22. degree — an amount
  23. band — a rubber band
  24. bark — of a tree

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