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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: branch · degree · cold · bark · sharp · stand · court · lie

  1. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  2. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  4. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  5. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  6. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  7. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  11. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  14. The ball is in your ________________.
  15. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  16. It's one o'clock ________________.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  19. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. I can't ________________ this cold.

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

Answer key

  1. branch — a division
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. lie — an untruth
  4. lie — an untruth
  5. bark — to shout
  6. lie — to recline
  7. sharp — with an edge
  8. degree — an amount
  9. cold — not warm
  10. stand — on your feet
  11. court — of law
  12. cold — an illness
  13. bark — a dog's sound
  14. court — for sport
  15. stand — for spectators
  16. sharp — exactly
  17. degree — from a university
  18. branch — of a tree
  19. sharp — clever
  20. court — of a king
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. branch — of a bank
  23. degree — temperature
  24. stand — to bear

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