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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. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  4. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  5. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  6. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  7. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  8. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  11. This piece is in a major ________________.
  12. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  13. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  14. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  15. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  16. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. My father caught me by the ________________.
  24. He's taking a ________________ right now.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. degree — temperature
  4. branch — of a tree
  5. branch — a division
  6. key — the most important part
  7. arm — part of the body
  8. key — for a lock
  9. cold — an illness
  10. branch — of a bank
  11. key — in music
  12. spring — a coil
  13. lie — to recline
  14. arm — a part of something
  15. lie — an untruth
  16. lie — an untruth
  17. cold — not warm
  18. spring — the season
  19. degree — an amount
  20. degree — from a university
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. shower — rain
  23. arm — part of the body
  24. shower — to wash

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