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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. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  2. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  7. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  8. He is an ace ________________.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  12. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  13. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  16. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  17. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  20. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  21. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  22. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  23. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  24. What do you think of the new ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. branch — of a tree
  2. hand — part of the body
  3. cold — an illness
  4. degree — from a university
  5. degree — temperature
  6. net — after costs
  7. pitch — a sales talk
  8. pitcher — in baseball
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. cold — not warm
  11. pitch — a sports field
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. cabinet — a cupboard
  14. hand — in cards
  15. pitch — completely
  16. branch — of a bank
  17. cabinet — ministers
  18. degree — an amount
  19. branch — a division
  20. net — in sport
  21. hand — help
  22. net — for catching
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. cabinet — ministers

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