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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. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  3. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  7. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  8. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  11. The ball is in your ________________.
  12. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  17. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  20. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  21. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. branch — of a tree
  2. wave — with your hand
  3. wind — moving air
  4. hand — in cards
  5. chest — of your body
  6. wave — of the sea
  7. wave — a sudden rise
  8. straw — a straw man
  9. hand — help
  10. court — of a king
  11. court — for sport
  12. straw — to clutch at straws
  13. degree — an amount
  14. court — of law
  15. chest — a box
  16. branch — a division
  17. wind — to turn a key
  18. degree — from a university
  19. chest — of your body
  20. straw — dry grass
  21. branch — of a bank
  22. degree — temperature
  23. wind — moving air
  24. hand — part of the body

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