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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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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. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  6. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  11. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  12. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  13. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  17. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  18. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  22. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  23. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  24. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. row — a line
  3. capital — money
  4. kid — child
  5. branch — of a bank
  6. leaves — of a tree
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. branch — of a tree
  9. degree — an amount
  10. branch — a division
  11. kid — to tease
  12. board — a flat piece
  13. content — videos and posts
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. degree — temperature
  16. leaves — lets stay
  17. row — a quarrel
  18. content — happy
  19. row — to paddle
  20. capital — a city
  21. leaves — to go away
  22. board — to get on
  23. content — the amount
  24. board — a committee

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