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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: cold · degree · date · race · march · bark · bear · coach

  1. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  2. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  3. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  4. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  5. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  6. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  7. Have you settled on a ________________?
  8. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  9. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  10. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  11. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  12. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  15. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. Have you met the new head ________________?
  18. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  22. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. race — the arms race
  2. march — music
  3. date — the fruit
  4. bear — to put up with
  5. date — on the calendar
  6. march — the month
  7. date — on the calendar
  8. coach — a trainer
  9. bark — a dog's sound
  10. race — humankind
  11. bark — of a tree
  12. march — the month
  13. degree — from a university
  14. coach — pulled by horses
  15. bear — the animal
  16. cold — not warm
  17. coach — a trainer
  18. bear — the animal
  19. cold — an illness
  20. degree — temperature
  21. race — a contest
  22. bark — to shout
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. degree — an amount

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