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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. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  2. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  3. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  4. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  5. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  6. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  7. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  10. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  23. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. bore — gave birth
  2. bore — to tire
  3. leaves — lets stay
  4. present — there
  5. branch — a division
  6. leaves — of a tree
  7. present — a gift
  8. cold — not warm
  9. can — to be able to
  10. wind — to turn a key
  11. degree — temperature
  12. bore — to drill
  13. wind — moving air
  14. leaves — to go away
  15. cold — an illness
  16. branch — of a bank
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. can — a tin
  19. degree — an amount
  20. branch — of a tree
  21. degree — from a university
  22. present — the time now
  23. can — a tin
  24. wind — moving air

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