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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. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  2. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  3. We're on a ________________ here.
  4. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  5. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  11. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  14. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  17. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  20. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  21. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  22. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — a thrill
  2. kick — with a leg
  3. roll — on a roll
  4. squash — to crush
  5. branch — of a bank
  6. degree — an amount
  7. pitch — a sales talk
  8. land — ground
  9. degree — from a university
  10. kick — in football
  11. branch — of a tree
  12. degree — temperature
  13. pitch — completely
  14. roll — a list
  15. march — the month
  16. roll — a cake
  17. squash — the vegetable
  18. land — to come down
  19. squash — the sport
  20. march — music
  21. pitch — a sports field
  22. branch — a division
  23. land — a country
  24. march — the month

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