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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  3. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  7. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  11. I've got to change the light ________________.
  12. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  13. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  14. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  15. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  16. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  17. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. The light ________________ burned out.
  20. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  21. Have you settled on a ________________?
  22. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  23. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  24. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. perch — the fish
  3. rule — government
  4. content — happy
  5. degree — temperature
  6. rule — a law
  7. bulb — of a plant
  8. content — the amount
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. trunk — of a car
  11. bulb — for light
  12. branch — a division
  13. trunk — of a tree
  14. date — on the calendar
  15. rule — to rule out
  16. perch — for a bird
  17. trunk — of an elephant
  18. degree — from a university
  19. bulb — for light
  20. branch — of a tree
  21. date — on the calendar
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. branch — of a bank
  24. date — the fruit

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