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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. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  8. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  11. That must've been a ________________.
  12. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  13. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  14. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  15. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  16. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  17. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. The ________________ market has crashed.
  20. When was this ________________ built?
  21. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — temperature
  2. cold — an illness
  3. rush — hurry
  4. capital — money
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. cold — not warm
  7. branch — a division
  8. temple — side of the head
  9. capital — a city
  10. stock — a soup base
  11. rush — a thrill
  12. temple — a place of worship
  13. patient — calm and waiting
  14. patient — a sick person
  15. rush — to hurry
  16. branch — of a tree
  17. stock — goods
  18. degree — from a university
  19. stock — shares
  20. temple — a place of worship
  21. branch — of a bank
  22. degree — an amount
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. cold — the Cold War

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