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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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  5. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  10. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  11. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. land — a country
  3. capital — a city
  4. branch — a division
  5. branch — of a tree
  6. land — to come down
  7. degree — temperature
  8. wound — an injury
  9. calf — of the leg
  10. branch — of a bank
  11. calf — a young animal
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. degree — an amount
  14. capital — money
  15. spring — of water
  16. calf — a young animal
  17. spring — a coil
  18. club — for golf
  19. spring — the season
  20. land — ground
  21. club — a group
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. club — for dancing
  24. wound — an injury

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