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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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468
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 · land · bark · cold · lash · fan · degree · kick

  1. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  5. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  6. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  7. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  8. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  11. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  12. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  13. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. When are we going to ________________?
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  21. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  22. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  23. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. lash — a whip stroke
  2. cold — an illness
  3. land — a country
  4. branch — a division
  5. branch — of a tree
  6. bark — a dog's sound
  7. kick — a thrill
  8. bark — to shout
  9. land — ground
  10. fan — to cool the air
  11. branch — of a bank
  12. kick — in football
  13. fan — a supporter
  14. degree — an amount
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. land — to come down
  17. degree — from a university
  18. lash — to lash out
  19. degree — temperature
  20. kick — with a leg
  21. bark — of a tree
  22. lash — an eyelash
  23. fan — a supporter
  24. cold — not warm

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