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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. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  2. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  3. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  4. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  5. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  6. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  9. The King held a masked ________________.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.

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

Answer key

  1. branch — of a bank
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. ball — a round shape
  4. chair — to sit on
  5. branch — a division
  6. branch — of a tree
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. fan — a supporter
  9. ball — a dance
  10. capital — a city
  11. degree — an amount
  12. degree — temperature
  13. degree — from a university
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. chair — a professorship
  16. spring — a coil
  17. spring — the season
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. chair — a leader
  20. spring — of water
  21. fan — to cool the air
  22. capital — money
  23. bat — the animal
  24. ball — a great time

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