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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: rule · patient · bark · degree · face · tube · clip · pound

  1. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  2. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  3. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. I'll be taking the ________________.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  13. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  14. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  15. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  16. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  19. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  20. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  21. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  22. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  23. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  24. She had a strange look on her ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — of a tree
  2. bark — a dog's sound
  3. rule — to rule out
  4. clip — to cut
  5. tube — the underground
  6. degree — temperature
  7. degree — an amount
  8. rule — a law
  9. degree — from a university
  10. pound — to hit hard
  11. clip — a video
  12. tube — in a tire
  13. face — to point toward
  14. bark — to shout
  15. pound — a weight
  16. rule — government
  17. clip — for paper
  18. patient — calm and waiting
  19. face — to confront
  20. tube — a container
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. pound — for dogs
  24. face — part of the head

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