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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. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  2. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  8. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. The ________________ took off on time.
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  15. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  16. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. branch — of a bank
  2. branch — a division
  3. hand — help
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. chest — of your body
  6. field — a subject
  7. straw — to clutch at straws
  8. branch — of a tree
  9. degree — an amount
  10. kick — a thrill
  11. chest — of your body
  12. plane — an aircraft
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. kick — in football
  15. kick — with a leg
  16. plane — a tool
  17. hand — in cards
  18. field — farmland
  19. field — for sport
  20. plane — in geometry
  21. degree — from a university
  22. straw — dry grass
  23. degree — temperature
  24. chest — a box

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