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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. That was a fun ________________.
  2. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  6. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  9. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  10. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  11. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  12. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. My father caught me by the ________________.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  17. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  18. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  19. He is an ace ________________.
  20. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  21. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  22. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  23. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. game — wild animals
  4. degree — from a university
  5. arm — part of the body
  6. firm — a company
  7. degree — an amount
  8. arm — a part of something
  9. shower — a meteor shower
  10. branch — a division
  11. firm — decided
  12. firm — steady
  13. shower — to wash
  14. arm — part of the body
  15. shower — rain
  16. game — a kind of play
  17. stem — to come from
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. pitcher — in baseball
  20. branch — of a tree
  21. branch — of a bank
  22. stem — of a plant
  23. stem — a stem cell
  24. degree — temperature

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