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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 116 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: bark · key · pop · wind · bore · kid · land · degree

  1. You don't need to ________________ round.
  2. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  6. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  7. This piece is in a major ________________.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  10. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  11. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. We're almost out of ________________.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  17. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  18. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  21. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — to visit
  2. degree — temperature
  3. land — ground
  4. land — to come down
  5. bark — a dog's sound
  6. bore — gave birth
  7. key — in music
  8. degree — from a university
  9. key — for a lock
  10. key — the most important part
  11. bore — to tire
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. pop — soda
  14. kid — to tease
  15. kid — child
  16. wind — moving air
  17. degree — an amount
  18. bark — to shout
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. bore — to drill
  21. bark — of a tree
  22. land — a country
  23. wind — moving air
  24. pop — music

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