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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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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: cold · wound · degree · kick · cap · snap · bark · jam

  1. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  2. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  3. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  7. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  10. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  11. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  12. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  16. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  17. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  18. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  19. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  20. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  21. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  22. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — a dog's sound
  2. wound — past of 'wind'
  3. cap — of ice
  4. cold — an illness
  5. degree — an amount
  6. kick — a thrill
  7. kick — in football
  8. cold — not warm
  9. jam — in traffic
  10. cap — a hat
  11. kick — with a leg
  12. bark — to shout
  13. degree — from a university
  14. degree — temperature
  15. wound — an injury
  16. snap — to click
  17. snap — to snap out of it
  18. snap — to speak sharply
  19. jam — a tight spot
  20. bark — of a tree
  21. jam — to spread on bread
  22. cap — a lid
  23. wound — an injury
  24. cold — the Cold War

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