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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 116 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: land · degree · wind · snap · bark · bowl · pit · rock

  1. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  3. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  4. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  5. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  6. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  9. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  10. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  13. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  14. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  17. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  18. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  19. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. pit — a fruit stone
  3. snap — to click
  4. bark — a dog's sound
  5. bowl — to roll
  6. snap — to snap out of it
  7. degree — temperature
  8. pit — a hole
  9. bowl — a dish
  10. bowl — a football final
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. bark — to shout
  13. bark — of a tree
  14. rock — to move gently
  15. degree — from a university
  16. rock — a stone
  17. wind — moving air
  18. pit — in a race
  19. snap — to speak sharply
  20. wind — moving air
  21. degree — an amount
  22. land — ground
  23. land — to come down
  24. rock — music

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