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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. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  2. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  8. How do you ________________ your surname?
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  12. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. I'll be taking the ________________.
  15. The ball is in your ________________.
  16. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  17. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  18. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  19. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  20. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  21. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  22. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  23. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  24. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — magic
  2. branch — of a tree
  3. degree — from a university
  4. degree — temperature
  5. pound — a weight
  6. cold — an illness
  7. branch — of a bank
  8. spell — letters
  9. degree — an amount
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. drill — the tool
  12. drill — a practice
  13. cold — not warm
  14. tube — the underground
  15. court — for sport
  16. court — of law
  17. tube — in a tire
  18. branch — a division
  19. spell — a short time
  20. tube — a container
  21. drill — army training
  22. pound — to hit hard
  23. pound — for dogs
  24. court — of a king

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