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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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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: bark · kid · bound · drill · degree · pit · tear · sharp

  1. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  2. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  3. It's one o'clock ________________.
  4. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  8. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  9. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  10. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  11. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  16. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  17. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. That was ________________ to happen.
  24. He's quite ________________, isn't he?

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. bound — tied together
  3. sharp — exactly
  4. drill — the tool
  5. degree — temperature
  6. tear — from crying
  7. pit — a fruit stone
  8. sharp — with an edge
  9. bound — obliged
  10. tear — to rip
  11. drill — army training
  12. kid — to tease
  13. bark — a dog's sound
  14. degree — from a university
  15. drill — a practice
  16. pit — a hole
  17. pit — in a race
  18. kid — child
  19. bark — of a tree
  20. degree — an amount
  21. bark — to shout
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. bound — certain
  24. sharp — clever

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