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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. That was a fun ________________.
  2. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  3. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  6. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  7. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  8. How do you ________________ your surname?
  9. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  16. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  17. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  22. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  23. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  24. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. spell — magic
  3. branch — of a bank
  4. degree — from a university
  5. branch — a division
  6. branch — of a tree
  7. content — the amount
  8. spell — letters
  9. bass — low music
  10. content — happy
  11. game — wild animals
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. fall — to drop
  14. degree — an amount
  15. spell — a short time
  16. trunk — of a car
  17. trunk — of an elephant
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. trunk — of a tree
  20. degree — temperature
  21. fall — to drop
  22. fall — the season
  23. bass — the instrument
  24. bass — the fish

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