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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: bark · leaves · rush · cold · arm · cell · degree · temple

  1. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  2. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  4. He was locked up in a ________________.
  5. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. My father caught me by the ________________.
  8. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  9. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  13. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  14. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  15. That must've been a ________________.
  16. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  17. When was this ________________ built?
  18. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  19. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  20. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.

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

Answer key

  1. arm — part of the body
  2. cell — a phone
  3. rush — hurry
  4. cell — in a prison
  5. cell — in biology
  6. cold — an illness
  7. arm — part of the body
  8. rush — to hurry
  9. leaves — of a tree
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. degree — an amount
  12. temple — a place of worship
  13. leaves — lets stay
  14. temple — side of the head
  15. rush — a thrill
  16. bark — of a tree
  17. temple — a place of worship
  18. leaves — to go away
  19. arm — a part of something
  20. bark — to shout
  21. degree — from a university
  22. cold — not warm
  23. degree — temperature
  24. bark — a dog's sound

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