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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. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  4. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  5. He is an ace ________________.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. She's very handy with a ________________.
  8. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  11. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  12. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  13. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  14. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  15. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  16. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  17. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  18. The King held a masked ________________.
  19. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  20. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  21. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  22. He works in a ________________ mill.
  23. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  24. Biology is a ________________ of science.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a great time
  2. degree — an amount
  3. branch — of a bank
  4. race — humankind
  5. pitcher — in baseball
  6. degree — from a university
  7. saw — the tool
  8. patient — calm and waiting
  9. degree — temperature
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. fan — a supporter
  12. race — a contest
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. ball — a round shape
  15. fan — a supporter
  16. fan — to cool the air
  17. race — the arms race
  18. ball — a dance
  19. saw — past of 'see'
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. saw — the tool
  23. branch — of a tree
  24. branch — a division

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