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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. We're almost out of ________________.
  2. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  3. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  4. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  9. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  10. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  11. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. You don't need to ________________ round.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. When are we going to ________________?
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  24. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — soda
  2. race — the arms race
  3. mine — an explosive
  4. pop — music
  5. degree — temperature
  6. branch — of a bank
  7. file — a document
  8. race — a contest
  9. land — a country
  10. branch — a division
  11. mine — for digging
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. branch — of a tree
  14. degree — from a university
  15. race — humankind
  16. file — a line of people
  17. pop — to visit
  18. chest — of your body
  19. degree — an amount
  20. land — to come down
  21. file — a tool
  22. chest — a box
  23. chest — of your body
  24. land — ground

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