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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: kid · row · pass · degree · bark · sharp · drill · stem

  1. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  2. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  4. It's one o'clock ________________.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  9. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  10. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  16. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  17. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  18. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  19. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  20. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  23. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  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. row — to paddle
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. sharp — clever
  4. sharp — exactly
  5. kid — child
  6. pass — to succeed
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. pass — to spend time
  9. pass — a permit
  10. drill — a practice
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. kid — to tease
  13. sharp — with an edge
  14. degree — temperature
  15. row — a line
  16. bark — a dog's sound
  17. stem — of a plant
  18. stem — to come from
  19. drill — the tool
  20. drill — army training
  21. degree — from a university
  22. bark — to shout
  23. stem — a stem cell
  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