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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 asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  2. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  3. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  4. How do you ________________ your surname?
  5. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  6. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  9. I can't ________________ this cold.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  12. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  15. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  20. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  21. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. He was locked up in a ________________.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — magic
  2. stand — on your feet
  3. pound — a weight
  4. spell — letters
  5. branch — a division
  6. branch — of a bank
  7. degree — from a university
  8. branch — of a tree
  9. stand — to bear
  10. cell — a phone
  11. drill — army training
  12. pound — for dogs
  13. file — a tool
  14. cell — in biology
  15. pound — to hit hard
  16. degree — an amount
  17. spell — a short time
  18. degree — temperature
  19. drill — the tool
  20. stand — for spectators
  21. drill — a practice
  22. file — a line of people
  23. cell — in a prison
  24. file — a document

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