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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: wound · chip · degree · plane · spring · content · hand · bark

  1. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. The ________________ took off on time.
  3. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  18. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  19. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  22. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  24. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. plane — an aircraft
  3. bark — a dog's sound
  4. spring — of water
  5. degree — from a university
  6. chip — for betting
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. plane — a tool
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. degree — an amount
  11. spring — a coil
  12. degree — temperature
  13. wound — an injury
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. content — happy
  16. spring — the season
  17. bark — of a tree
  18. bark — to shout
  19. chip — in a computer
  20. hand — in cards
  21. chip — to eat
  22. hand — help
  23. wound — an injury
  24. plane — in geometry

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