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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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Word bank
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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. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  2. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  8. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. He was locked up in a ________________.
  15. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  18. Have you settled on a ________________?
  19. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  20. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  21. How do you ________________ your surname?
  22. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  23. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. mouse — for a computer
  2. spell — magic
  3. cell — a phone
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. date — on the calendar
  6. cold — an illness
  7. march — the month
  8. spell — a short time
  9. degree — from a university
  10. branch — of a tree
  11. cold — not warm
  12. mouse — the animal
  13. degree — an amount
  14. cell — in a prison
  15. branch — of a bank
  16. cell — in biology
  17. march — the month
  18. date — on the calendar
  19. march — music
  20. branch — a division
  21. spell — letters
  22. date — the fruit
  23. mouse — the animal
  24. degree — temperature

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