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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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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 · stem · straw · current · kid · degree · staff · snap

  1. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  2. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  3. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  7. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  8. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  16. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  17. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  18. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  21. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  22. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  23. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  24. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.

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

Answer key

  1. current — electric
  2. staff — employees
  3. current — happening now
  4. degree — an amount
  5. degree — from a university
  6. straw — to clutch at straws
  7. bark — of a tree
  8. staff — a stick
  9. kid — child
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. bark — to shout
  13. kid — to tease
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. current — of water
  16. stem — a stem cell
  17. stem — of a plant
  18. staff — employees
  19. degree — temperature
  20. snap — to click
  21. bark — a dog's sound
  22. stem — to come from
  23. snap — to speak sharply
  24. snap — to snap out of it

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