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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. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  2. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  7. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  8. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  15. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  19. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  20. What do you think of the new ________________?
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. safe — a strongbox
  2. stem — to come from
  3. wind — moving air
  4. cold — an illness
  5. degree — temperature
  6. branch — of a tree
  7. cabinet — a cupboard
  8. branch — of a bank
  9. kid — to tease
  10. safe — out of danger
  11. kid — child
  12. stem — of a plant
  13. degree — from a university
  14. wind — to turn a key
  15. cabinet — ministers
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. wind — moving air
  18. branch — a division
  19. stem — a stem cell
  20. cabinet — ministers
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. safe — out of danger
  23. cold — not warm
  24. degree — an amount

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