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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: deal · cold · pound · row · bulb · chair · degree · bark

  1. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  2. I've got to change the light ________________.
  3. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  4. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  8. The light ________________ burned out.
  9. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  14. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  15. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  16. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  19. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  24. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — to shout
  2. bulb — for light
  3. bulb — of a plant
  4. deal — an agreement
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. degree — an amount
  7. bark — a dog's sound
  8. bulb — for light
  9. bark — of a tree
  10. degree — temperature
  11. cold — not warm
  12. degree — from a university
  13. pound — to hit hard
  14. chair — to sit on
  15. deal — a big deal
  16. chair — a professorship
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. chair — a leader
  19. row — a line
  20. row — to paddle
  21. deal — to handle
  22. cold — an illness
  23. pound — a weight
  24. pound — for dogs

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