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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: file · degree · court · stick · cold · bulb · pitcher · bark

  1. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. I've got to change the light ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  11. He is an ace ________________.
  12. The ball is in your ________________.
  13. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. The light ________________ burned out.
  19. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  20. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  21. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  24. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — of a tree
  2. cold — not warm
  3. degree — an amount
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. court — of law
  6. court — of a king
  7. file — a tool
  8. bulb — for light
  9. cold — an illness
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. pitcher — in baseball
  12. court — for sport
  13. bulb — of a plant
  14. file — a document
  15. degree — from a university
  16. stick — a piece of wood
  17. file — a line of people
  18. bulb — for light
  19. stick — to attach or keep to
  20. bark — a dog's sound
  21. stick — a piece of wood
  22. degree — temperature
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. bark — to shout

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