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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: bark · chest · rest · chip · degree · mine · leaves · row

  1. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  2. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  5. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  10. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  11. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  12. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  13. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  19. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  20. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. chip — for betting
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. chest — a box
  4. bark — to shout
  5. leaves — lets stay
  6. chest — of your body
  7. chip — to eat
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. row — a quarrel
  10. rest — a break
  11. mine — for digging
  12. leaves — of a tree
  13. rest — what's left
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. row — a line
  16. degree — from a university
  17. mine — an explosive
  18. chest — of your body
  19. chip — in a computer
  20. rest — what's left
  21. degree — temperature
  22. row — to paddle
  23. leaves — to go away
  24. degree — an amount

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