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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. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  2. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  3. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  9. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  12. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  17. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  18. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  19. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the sport
  2. branch — of a bank
  3. pass — to spend time
  4. chest — of your body
  5. chest — of your body
  6. tear — from crying
  7. degree — from a university
  8. branch — a division
  9. pass — a permit
  10. wind — moving air
  11. race — the arms race
  12. race — a contest
  13. chest — a box
  14. squash — to crush
  15. tear — from crying
  16. wind — moving air
  17. branch — of a tree
  18. squash — the vegetable
  19. race — humankind
  20. degree — an amount
  21. degree — temperature
  22. pass — to succeed
  23. tear — to rip
  24. wind — to turn a key

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