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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. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  2. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  3. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  4. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  5. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  6. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  7. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  8. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  9. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  10. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  11. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  16. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. How do you ________________ your surname?
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  23. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  24. Have you met the new head ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. mark — to pay attention
  2. branch — of a tree
  3. deal — a big deal
  4. branch — a division
  5. chair — a leader
  6. deal — to handle
  7. chair — to sit on
  8. spell — a short time
  9. chair — a professorship
  10. spell — magic
  11. mark — a trace
  12. degree — temperature
  13. coach — a trainer
  14. degree — an amount
  15. deal — an agreement
  16. mark — a grade
  17. degree — from a university
  18. cold — an illness
  19. cold — not warm
  20. spell — letters
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. coach — pulled by horses
  23. branch — of a bank
  24. coach — a trainer

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