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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. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. There's no middle ________________.
  4. What do you think of the new ________________?
  5. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  6. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  7. We're almost out of ________________.
  8. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  9. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  10. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  16. You don't need to ________________ round.
  17. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  18. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  19. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  20. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  21. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  24. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — temperature
  2. degree — from a university
  3. ground — a position
  4. cabinet — ministers
  5. ground — the earth
  6. pop — music
  7. pop — soda
  8. chair — a leader
  9. ground — crushed
  10. branch — a division
  11. degree — an amount
  12. branch — of a bank
  13. file — a tool
  14. file — a document
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. pop — to visit
  17. cabinet — a cupboard
  18. branch — of a tree
  19. chair — to sit on
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. chair — a professorship
  22. file — a line of people
  23. cabinet — ministers
  24. perch — the fish

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