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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 band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  2. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  10. The ________________ market has crashed.
  11. It's one o'clock ________________.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  14. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  19. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  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. march — music
  2. branch — of a tree
  3. kid — to tease
  4. degree — an amount
  5. chest — a box
  6. kid — child
  7. sharp — with an edge
  8. chest — of your body
  9. branch — of a bank
  10. stock — shares
  11. sharp — exactly
  12. spring — of water
  13. stock — a soup base
  14. sharp — clever
  15. degree — temperature
  16. spring — a coil
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. stock — goods
  19. chest — of your body
  20. spring — the season
  21. march — the month
  22. march — the month
  23. branch — a division
  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