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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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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: court · field · saw · nail · degree · bark · spell · shower

  1. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  2. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  3. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  4. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  5. The ball is in your ________________.
  6. The ________________ went through the wall.
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  15. He works in a ________________ mill.
  16. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  17. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  18. How do you ________________ your surname?
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. She's very handy with a ________________.
  23. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — a dog's sound
  2. spell — magic
  3. bark — of a tree
  4. court — of a king
  5. court — for sport
  6. nail — for a hammer
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. nail — on a finger
  9. field — farmland
  10. degree — an amount
  11. spell — a short time
  12. shower — to wash
  13. degree — from a university
  14. bark — to shout
  15. saw — the tool
  16. court — of law
  17. saw — past of 'see'
  18. spell — letters
  19. degree — temperature
  20. shower — rain
  21. field — a subject
  22. saw — the tool
  23. nail — for a hammer
  24. field — for sport

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