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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 120 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: last · stem · land · degree · perch · bark · bound · mate

  1. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  2. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. False peace will not ________________.
  5. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  6. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  9. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  10. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  11. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  12. That was ________________ to happen.
  13. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  14. When are we going to ________________?
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  17. Have you found your soul ________________?
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  20. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  21. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  24. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. last — finally
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. last — final
  4. last — to go on
  5. bound — tied together
  6. perch — the fish
  7. land — ground
  8. mate — to breed
  9. land — a country
  10. bound — obliged
  11. mate — a friend
  12. bound — certain
  13. bark — a dog's sound
  14. land — to come down
  15. degree — an amount
  16. stem — to come from
  17. mate — a partner
  18. degree — temperature
  19. bark — to shout
  20. stem — of a plant
  21. perch — for a bird
  22. degree — from a university
  23. stem — a stem cell
  24. perch — for a bird

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