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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: chair · bowl · club · cell · tube · degree · game · bark

  1. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  2. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  5. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  6. He was locked up in a ________________.
  7. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  8. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  9. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  14. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  15. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. I'll be taking the ________________.
  18. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  19. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — a dog's sound
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. cell — a phone
  4. chair — to sit on
  5. tube — in a tire
  6. cell — in a prison
  7. bowl — a football final
  8. bowl — a dish
  9. club — for dancing
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. chair — a professorship
  12. degree — temperature
  13. bark — to shout
  14. tube — a container
  15. chair — a leader
  16. cell — in biology
  17. tube — the underground
  18. bowl — to roll
  19. club — a group
  20. game — wild animals
  21. degree — an amount
  22. club — for golf
  23. degree — from a university
  24. game — a match

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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