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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  3. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  4. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  12. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  13. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  14. How do you ________________ your surname?
  15. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  18. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. track — to keep track
  3. track — a path
  4. bank — for money
  5. degree — an amount
  6. degree — temperature
  7. spell — magic
  8. cold — an illness
  9. track — a song
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. bank — of a river
  12. bank — for money
  13. branch — a division
  14. spell — letters
  15. branch — of a tree
  16. cold — not warm
  17. branch — of a bank
  18. spell — a short time

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