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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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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. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  2. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  3. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  6. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  7. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  8. False peace will not ________________.
  9. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. The ________________ went through the wall.
  12. We're on a ________________ here.
  13. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  14. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  15. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  22. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.

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

Answer key

  1. nail — on a finger
  2. racket — for tennis
  3. branch — of a tree
  4. degree — an amount
  5. roll — a cake
  6. nail — for a hammer
  7. root — of a plant
  8. last — to go on
  9. root — the cause
  10. shower — to wash
  11. nail — for a hammer
  12. roll — on a roll
  13. last — finally
  14. branch — a division
  15. racket — a loud noise
  16. shower — rain
  17. root — of a word
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. racket — for tennis
  20. degree — temperature
  21. last — final
  22. branch — of a bank
  23. degree — from a university
  24. roll — a list

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