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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: game · temple · degree · saw · file · trunk · wind · bark

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  3. He works in a ________________ mill.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  6. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  9. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  10. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  11. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  14. When was this ________________ built?
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  22. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. She's very handy with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. bark — a dog's sound
  3. saw — the tool
  4. game — wild animals
  5. temple — side of the head
  6. bark — of a tree
  7. file — a tool
  8. temple — a place of worship
  9. wind — moving air
  10. trunk — of an elephant
  11. file — a line of people
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. trunk — of a car
  14. temple — a place of worship
  15. game — a match
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. bark — to shout
  18. wind — moving air
  19. degree — temperature
  20. degree — from a university
  21. saw — past of 'see'
  22. trunk — of a tree
  23. file — a document
  24. saw — the tool

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