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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: wind · degree · trunk · row · stem · spell · mouse · content

  1. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  4. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  5. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  6. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  7. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  8. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  9. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  10. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  13. How do you ________________ your surname?
  14. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  15. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  16. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  17. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  18. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  21. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  22. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. Many English words ________________ from Latin.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. degree — an amount
  3. content — the amount
  4. trunk — of an elephant
  5. row — a line
  6. mouse — the animal
  7. trunk — of a tree
  8. stem — of a plant
  9. row — a quarrel
  10. content — videos and posts
  11. degree — temperature
  12. mouse — for a computer
  13. spell — letters
  14. stem — a stem cell
  15. spell — a short time
  16. trunk — of a car
  17. wind — moving air
  18. spell — magic
  19. degree — from a university
  20. wind — to turn a key
  21. content — happy
  22. mouse — the animal
  23. row — to paddle
  24. stem — to come from

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