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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  3. That must've been a ________________.
  4. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  5. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  6. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  11. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  12. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  13. The ________________ went through the wall.
  14. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  15. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  18. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  19. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  20. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  21. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. degree — temperature
  3. rush — a thrill
  4. trunk — of an elephant
  5. row — a line
  6. rush — hurry
  7. field — a subject
  8. row — to paddle
  9. degree — from a university
  10. nail — for a hammer
  11. nail — on a finger
  12. branch — of a bank
  13. nail — for a hammer
  14. branch — of a tree
  15. rush — to hurry
  16. field — for sport
  17. cell — a phone
  18. trunk — of a car
  19. trunk — of a tree
  20. branch — a division
  21. row — a quarrel
  22. cell — in biology
  23. field — farmland
  24. cell — in a prison

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