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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. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  2. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  3. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  4. Did you ________________ the button?
  5. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  8. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  11. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  12. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  15. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  16. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  17. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  18. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  19. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  20. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  21. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. branch — a division
  2. degree — temperature
  3. branch — of a bank
  4. press — to push
  5. wake — before a funeral
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. bark — to shout
  8. press — a publisher
  9. degree — from a university
  10. branch — of a tree
  11. wake — a trail
  12. race — humankind
  13. clip — to cut
  14. bark — of a tree
  15. press — newspapers
  16. bark — a dog's sound
  17. wake — to stop sleeping
  18. race — a contest
  19. race — the arms race
  20. mine — an explosive
  21. mine — for digging
  22. degree — an amount
  23. clip — a video
  24. clip — for paper

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