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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 116 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: degree · prune · stem · cold · craft · kid · field · bark

  1. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  10. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  13. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  20. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  21. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  24. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — to shout
  2. prune — to trim
  3. degree — from a university
  4. cold — an illness
  5. kid — child
  6. bark — a dog's sound
  7. degree — an amount
  8. field — farmland
  9. stem — of a plant
  10. craft — a skill
  11. field — a subject
  12. craft — a handicraft
  13. stem — to come from
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. field — for sport
  16. cold — not warm
  17. kid — to tease
  18. degree — temperature
  19. stem — a stem cell
  20. prune — the fruit
  21. craft — boats
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. prune — to trim
  24. bark — of a tree

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