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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: spring · capital · wind · bark · fall · hand · degree · stem

  1. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  6. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  13. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  19. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  20. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — a dog's sound
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. stem — of a plant
  4. degree — an amount
  5. stem — a stem cell
  6. fall — the season
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. hand — in cards
  9. bark — of a tree
  10. spring — of water
  11. spring — the season
  12. fall — to drop
  13. bark — to shout
  14. wind — moving air
  15. degree — temperature
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. capital — a city
  18. stem — to come from
  19. hand — help
  20. wind — moving air
  21. degree — from a university
  22. spring — a coil
  23. capital — money
  24. fall — to drop

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