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

Word bank: band · pass · branch · file · ground · cold · wind · degree

  1. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. There's no middle ________________.
  4. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  5. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  17. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  18. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  19. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  20. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. Add some ________________ pepper to it.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a music group
  2. wind — moving air
  3. ground — a position
  4. branch — of a tree
  5. pass — to succeed
  6. file — a tool
  7. pass — a permit
  8. cold — not warm
  9. degree — from a university
  10. file — a line of people
  11. band — a ring
  12. wind — moving air
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. wind — to turn a key
  15. cold — an illness
  16. branch — a division
  17. branch — of a bank
  18. ground — the earth
  19. pass — to spend time
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. degree — an amount
  22. degree — temperature
  23. file — a document
  24. ground — crushed

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