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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. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  4. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  5. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  6. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  7. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  8. The ball is in your ________________.
  9. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  10. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  13. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  14. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  15. Did you ________________ the meat?
  16. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  20. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of law
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. fan — a supporter
  4. fan — to cool the air
  5. branch — of a bank
  6. branch — a division
  7. season — of the year
  8. court — for sport
  9. fine — all right
  10. court — of a king
  11. degree — an amount
  12. root — the cause
  13. fan — a supporter
  14. fine — a penalty
  15. season — to add flavour
  16. season — in sport
  17. degree — from a university
  18. degree — temperature
  19. root — of a plant
  20. root — of a word
  21. cold — not warm
  22. branch — of a tree
  23. cold — an illness
  24. fine — high quality

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