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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: stem · degree · race · bark · perch · snap · spring · court

  1. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  2. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  5. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  6. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  7. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  11. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  12. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  13. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  14. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  17. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  18. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  19. The ball is in your ________________.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  22. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  23. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — to shout
  2. stem — to come from
  3. degree — from a university
  4. snap — to snap out of it
  5. court — of a king
  6. stem — of a plant
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. spring — of water
  9. degree — an amount
  10. court — of law
  11. snap — to speak sharply
  12. race — a contest
  13. bark — a dog's sound
  14. race — humankind
  15. spring — the season
  16. bark — of a tree
  17. snap — to click
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. court — for sport
  20. degree — temperature
  21. race — the arms race
  22. perch — the fish
  23. stem — a stem cell
  24. spring — a coil

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