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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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  3. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  4. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  7. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  8. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  9. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  10. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  11. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  14. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. He is an ace ________________.
  17. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  18. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  19. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  23. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. file — a line of people
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. club — for golf
  5. degree — an amount
  6. branch — of a tree
  7. fan — a supporter
  8. club — a group
  9. file — a document
  10. fan — a supporter
  11. fan — to cool the air
  12. cold — an illness
  13. branch — of a bank
  14. branch — a division
  15. file — a tool
  16. pitcher — in baseball
  17. rest — what's left
  18. rest — a break
  19. rest — what's left
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. degree — temperature
  22. club — for dancing
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. cold — not warm

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