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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. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  4. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  5. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  11. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  12. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  13. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  14. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  18. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  19. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  20. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. rule — government
  2. degree — an amount
  3. branch — of a tree
  4. pit — in a race
  5. rule — a law
  6. spring — of water
  7. mouse — the animal
  8. capital — money
  9. spring — a coil
  10. row — a quarrel
  11. pit — a fruit stone
  12. row — a line
  13. branch — a division
  14. mouse — the animal
  15. degree — temperature
  16. spring — the season
  17. branch — of a bank
  18. rule — to rule out
  19. pit — a hole
  20. mouse — for a computer
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. degree — from a university
  23. row — to paddle
  24. capital — a city

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