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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. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  3. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  4. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  5. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  6. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  9. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  10. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  11. False peace will not ________________.
  12. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  15. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  18. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. My father caught me by the ________________.
  21. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  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. last — final
  2. branch — of a tree
  3. race — a contest
  4. last — finally
  5. perch — for a bird
  6. race — the arms race
  7. degree — temperature
  8. race — humankind
  9. branch — of a bank
  10. arm — a part of something
  11. last — to go on
  12. perch — for a bird
  13. shower — rain
  14. scale — in music
  15. scale — for weighing
  16. degree — from a university
  17. perch — the fish
  18. arm — part of the body
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. arm — part of the body
  21. branch — a division
  22. shower — to wash
  23. scale — size or range
  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