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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: degree · date · kid · last · bark · bat · board · land

  1. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  5. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. Have you settled on a ________________?
  9. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  16. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  17. False peace will not ________________.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  20. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — of a tree
  2. kid — to tease
  3. degree — from a university
  4. bark — a dog's sound
  5. last — finally
  6. land — ground
  7. degree — temperature
  8. date — on the calendar
  9. last — final
  10. land — to come down
  11. board — a committee
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. land — a country
  14. degree — an amount
  15. date — the fruit
  16. bark — to shout
  17. last — to go on
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. board — a flat piece
  20. date — on the calendar
  21. kid — child
  22. board — to get on
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. bat — the animal

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