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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 116 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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  3. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  4. What do you think of the new ________________?
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  9. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  10. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  11. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  21. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  22. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  23. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  24. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. race — the arms race
  3. branch — a division
  4. cabinet — ministers
  5. land — to come down
  6. cabinet — ministers
  7. degree — temperature
  8. craft — boats
  9. race — humankind
  10. branch — of a bank
  11. branch — of a tree
  12. hand — help
  13. land — ground
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. land — a country
  17. race — a contest
  18. hand — in cards
  19. degree — from a university
  20. bark — of a tree
  21. bark — to shout
  22. cabinet — a cupboard
  23. craft — a handicraft
  24. craft — a skill

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