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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: chest · wake · tube · bark · face · rush · degree · bound

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  5. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  6. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  7. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  8. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  9. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  10. That must've been a ________________.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  13. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  14. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  15. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  16. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  17. That was ________________ to happen.
  18. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  21. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  22. I'll be taking the ________________.
  23. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  24. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. chest — of your body
  3. degree — from a university
  4. chest — a box
  5. wake — before a funeral
  6. bound — tied together
  7. bark — a dog's sound
  8. bound — obliged
  9. face — to confront
  10. rush — a thrill
  11. chest — of your body
  12. rush — to hurry
  13. rush — hurry
  14. face — part of the head
  15. bark — to shout
  16. tube — a container
  17. bound — certain
  18. face — to point toward
  19. degree — temperature
  20. tube — in a tire
  21. wake — to stop sleeping
  22. tube — the underground
  23. bark — of a tree
  24. wake — a trail

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