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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 116 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. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  4. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  5. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  11. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  12. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  15. I'll be taking the ________________.
  16. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  17. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  22. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  23. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  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. branch — of a bank
  2. cold — not warm
  3. lean — thin
  4. drill — the tool
  5. branch — a division
  6. row — a line
  7. degree — temperature
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. cold — an illness
  10. lean — to rest against
  11. march — music
  12. row — to paddle
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. lean — to bend
  15. tube — the underground
  16. branch — of a tree
  17. tube — a container
  18. degree — an amount
  19. tube — in a tire
  20. march — the month
  21. march — the month
  22. drill — army training
  23. drill — a practice
  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