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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. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  10. Have you found your soul ________________?
  11. He is an ace ________________.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  14. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  15. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  3. degree — an amount
  4. branch — a division
  5. degree — from a university
  6. bat — the animal
  7. land — to come down
  8. clip — to cut
  9. branch — of a bank
  10. mate — a partner
  11. pitcher — in baseball
  12. kid — child
  13. branch — of a tree
  14. mate — a friend
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. clip — for paper
  17. mate — to breed
  18. kid — to tease
  19. clip — a video
  20. pitcher — a jug
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. degree — temperature
  23. land — ground
  24. land — a country

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