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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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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: band · file · ball · ground · roll · club · bark · degree

  1. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  4. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  5. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  6. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  7. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  8. There's no middle ________________.
  9. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  12. The King held a masked ________________.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  16. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  17. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  18. We're on a ________________ here.
  19. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  20. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  21. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  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. degree — from a university
  2. ground — crushed
  3. bark — of a tree
  4. club — for dancing
  5. ball — a great time
  6. club — for golf
  7. club — a group
  8. ground — a position
  9. roll — a list
  10. file — a document
  11. bark — a dog's sound
  12. ball — a dance
  13. file — a tool
  14. degree — temperature
  15. ball — a round shape
  16. bark — to shout
  17. band — a ring
  18. roll — on a roll
  19. band — a music group
  20. roll — a cake
  21. ground — the earth
  22. file — a line of people
  23. band — a rubber band
  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