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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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  5. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  6. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  7. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  8. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  9. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  10. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  11. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  12. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  15. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  16. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  17. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  18. He is an ace ________________.
  19. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  20. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  23. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  24. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. branch — of a bank
  3. degree — an amount
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. fall — to drop
  6. fall — the season
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. row — a quarrel
  10. bark — to shout
  11. branch — of a tree
  12. row — a line
  13. degree — temperature
  14. fall — to drop
  15. drill — a practice
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. branch — a division
  18. pitcher — in baseball
  19. bark — of a tree
  20. bark — a dog's sound
  21. row — to paddle
  22. perch — the fish
  23. drill — army training
  24. drill — the tool

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