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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 · lie · cold · degree · snap · rule · land · ball

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  5. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  10. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  11. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  12. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  15. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  16. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  17. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  18. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  19. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. The King held a masked ________________.
  22. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  23. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. cold — an illness
  3. degree — from a university
  4. rule — government
  5. snap — to snap out of it
  6. land — ground
  7. branch — of a tree
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. land — a country
  10. lie — an untruth
  11. branch — a division
  12. snap — to speak sharply
  13. land — to come down
  14. ball — a round shape
  15. ball — a great time
  16. branch — of a bank
  17. rule — to rule out
  18. lie — an untruth
  19. lie — to recline
  20. degree — temperature
  21. ball — a dance
  22. rule — a law
  23. snap — to click
  24. degree — an amount

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