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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: wound · season · spell · squash · degree · bark · pop · stand

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  3. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. How do you ________________ your surname?
  7. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  8. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  9. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  10. I can't ________________ this cold.
  11. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  12. Did you ________________ the meat?
  13. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  14. You don't need to ________________ round.
  15. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  16. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  17. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  18. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  21. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  24. We're almost out of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. spell — magic
  3. season — of the year
  4. wound — an injury
  5. degree — from a university
  6. spell — letters
  7. squash — the sport
  8. wound — past of 'wind'
  9. squash — the vegetable
  10. stand — to bear
  11. stand — for spectators
  12. season — to add flavour
  13. bark — of a tree
  14. pop — to visit
  15. stand — on your feet
  16. spell — a short time
  17. bark — a dog's sound
  18. bark — to shout
  19. degree — temperature
  20. squash — to crush
  21. pop — music
  22. wound — an injury
  23. season — in sport
  24. pop — soda

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