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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 120 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. The water is too ________________.
  2. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  3. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  9. When will it ________________ you to start?
  10. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  16. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  21. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  22. How do you ________________ your surname?
  23. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  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. cold — not warm
  2. suit — in cards
  3. branch — of a tree
  4. bat — the animal
  5. fork — to eat with
  6. degree — an amount
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. branch — a division
  9. suit — to fit
  10. fork — a garden tool
  11. cold — an illness
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. fork — in a road
  14. degree — from a university
  15. spell — a short time
  16. suit — clothes
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. spell — magic
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. content — happy
  21. branch — of a bank
  22. spell — letters
  23. content — the amount
  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