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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: fall · degree · mine · wake · kid · hand · scale · bark

  1. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  2. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  3. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  8. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  14. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  15. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  19. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  20. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — for digging
  2. fall — to drop
  3. degree — temperature
  4. kid — child
  5. scale — for weighing
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. bark — of a tree
  8. bark — a dog's sound
  9. degree — an amount
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. wake — a trail
  12. hand — in cards
  13. wake — to stop sleeping
  14. fall — the season
  15. scale — size or range
  16. kid — to tease
  17. hand — help
  18. wake — before a funeral
  19. scale — in music
  20. fall — to drop
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. mine — belonging to me
  23. degree — from a university
  24. bark — to shout

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