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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 124 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: cap · dip · squash · chair · cold · degree · branch · sharp

  1. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  2. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  3. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  7. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  10. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  13. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. It's one o'clock ________________.
  16. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  17. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  18. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  19. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  22. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  23. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a lid
  2. dip — to dunk
  3. branch — a division
  4. degree — an amount
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. dip — to sink
  7. branch — of a bank
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. cap — of ice
  10. cap — a hat
  11. degree — from a university
  12. chair — a leader
  13. squash — to crush
  14. cold — not warm
  15. sharp — exactly
  16. squash — the sport
  17. sharp — clever
  18. sharp — with an edge
  19. branch — of a tree
  20. cold — an illness
  21. squash — the vegetable
  22. chair — to sit on
  23. dip — a sauce
  24. degree — temperature

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