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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: dip · degree · can · wind · stem · bat · field · bark

  1. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  8. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  9. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  10. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  17. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  18. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  23. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  24. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. bat — the animal
  3. bark — to shout
  4. degree — an amount
  5. field — a subject
  6. field — for sport
  7. can — a tin
  8. wind — moving air
  9. dip — to sink
  10. dip — to dunk
  11. field — farmland
  12. can — to be able to
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. bark — of a tree
  15. degree — temperature
  16. dip — a sauce
  17. can — a tin
  18. stem — to come from
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. degree — from a university
  22. stem — a stem cell
  23. bark — a dog's sound
  24. stem — of a plant

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