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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. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  2. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  4. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  5. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  6. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  7. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  8. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  9. We're almost out of ________________.
  10. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. It's one o'clock ________________.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  22. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. You don't need to ________________ round.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. tear — from crying
  3. branch — a division
  4. race — the arms race
  5. pop — music
  6. branch — of a tree
  7. race — humankind
  8. race — a contest
  9. pop — soda
  10. craft — a handicraft
  11. tear — to rip
  12. branch — of a bank
  13. cold — an illness
  14. sharp — exactly
  15. degree — an amount
  16. craft — a skill
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. craft — boats
  19. degree — from a university
  20. cold — not warm
  21. sharp — with an edge
  22. sharp — clever
  23. degree — temperature
  24. pop — to visit

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