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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. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  2. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  3. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  4. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  5. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  6. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  17. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  18. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  19. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  20. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  21. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  24. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — the season
  2. branch — of a tree
  3. mouse — the animal
  4. mark — a grade
  5. mouse — for a computer
  6. mark — a trace
  7. cell — a phone
  8. spring — of water
  9. snap — to speak sharply
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. cold — an illness
  12. degree — temperature
  13. degree — an amount
  14. cold — not warm
  15. spring — a coil
  16. branch — a division
  17. branch — of a bank
  18. mark — to pay attention
  19. mouse — the animal
  20. cell — in biology
  21. snap — to snap out of it
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. snap — to click
  24. degree — from a university

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