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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. Did you ________________ the button?
  3. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  8. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  9. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  10. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  11. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  14. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  15. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  16. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  17. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  18. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  19. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  20. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  21. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. There's no middle ________________.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. press — to push
  3. file — a document
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. degree — from a university
  6. file — a tool
  7. branch — of a bank
  8. trunk — of an elephant
  9. row — a line
  10. hide — animal skin
  11. hide — to keep secret
  12. degree — temperature
  13. trunk — of a tree
  14. trunk — of a car
  15. press — newspapers
  16. ground — the earth
  17. hide — to keep secret
  18. branch — of a tree
  19. ground — crushed
  20. press — a publisher
  21. branch — a division
  22. row — to paddle
  23. ground — a position
  24. file — a line of people

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