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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: fan · row · bat · lean · branch · degree · wind · capital

  1. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  13. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  20. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  21. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  24. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. capital — a city
  3. wind — moving air
  4. lean — to rest against
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. branch — a division
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. lean — thin
  9. degree — temperature
  10. bat — the animal
  11. degree — an amount
  12. fan — a supporter
  13. row — a line
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. degree — from a university
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. capital — money
  18. wind — moving air
  19. lean — to bend
  20. fan — to cool the air
  21. branch — of a tree
  22. row — to paddle
  23. branch — of a bank
  24. capital — a big letter

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