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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. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  3. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  7. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  11. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  15. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  16. We're almost out of ________________.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  20. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  21. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  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. chair — a professorship
  2. branch — a division
  3. pop — music
  4. file — a tool
  5. file — a document
  6. shower — a meteor shower
  7. chair — to sit on
  8. degree — an amount
  9. degree — temperature
  10. march — the month
  11. branch — of a tree
  12. march — music
  13. file — a line of people
  14. march — the month
  15. rock — music
  16. pop — soda
  17. shower — to wash
  18. degree — from a university
  19. chair — a leader
  20. rock — to move gently
  21. rock — a stone
  22. shower — rain
  23. branch — of a bank
  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