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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: cold · tube · rush · bark · rash · mate · degree · trunk

  1. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. Have you found your soul ________________?
  3. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  6. That must've been a ________________.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  9. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Don't do anything ________________.
  12. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  15. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  16. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  17. I'll be taking the ________________.
  18. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  19. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  20. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  21. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  22. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  23. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  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. cold — the Cold War
  2. mate — a partner
  3. trunk — of a tree
  4. degree — from a university
  5. tube — a container
  6. rush — a thrill
  7. degree — temperature
  8. mate — a friend
  9. bark — a dog's sound
  10. cold — an illness
  11. rash — hasty
  12. rush — to hurry
  13. cold — not warm
  14. tube — in a tire
  15. bark — to shout
  16. rash — a series
  17. tube — the underground
  18. trunk — of a car
  19. trunk — of an elephant
  20. rush — hurry
  21. bark — of a tree
  22. rash — on the skin
  23. mate — to breed
  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