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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 120 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'd like to play a game of ________________.
  2. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  6. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  7. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  8. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  9. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  14. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  15. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. Have you found your soul ________________?
  18. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  19. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  20. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  24. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the sport
  2. branch — a division
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. degree — temperature
  5. snap — to snap out of it
  6. snap — to click
  7. snap — to speak sharply
  8. shower — rain
  9. scale — for weighing
  10. degree — from a university
  11. degree — an amount
  12. bat — the animal
  13. branch — of a bank
  14. mate — a friend
  15. mate — to breed
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. mate — a partner
  18. scale — size or range
  19. squash — to crush
  20. squash — the vegetable
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. shower — to wash
  23. scale — in music
  24. branch — of a tree

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