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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. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  5. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  6. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  7. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  14. Have you met the new head ________________?
  15. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. I can't ________________ this cold.
  21. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  22. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  23. False peace will not ________________.
  24. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. coach — a trainer
  3. kid — child
  4. stand — for spectators
  5. cell — a phone
  6. content — videos and posts
  7. branch — of a bank
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. degree — an amount
  10. stand — on your feet
  11. degree — from a university
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. coach — pulled by horses
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. branch — a division
  16. content — the amount
  17. cell — in biology
  18. degree — temperature
  19. kid — to tease
  20. stand — to bear
  21. branch — of a tree
  22. last — finally
  23. last — to go on
  24. content — happy

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