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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: cold · degree · branch · date · hide · snap · mine · fork

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  3. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  4. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  5. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  6. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  7. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  10. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. Have you settled on a ________________?
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  16. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  20. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  21. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  22. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  23. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  24. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. degree — temperature
  3. date — the fruit
  4. hide — to keep secret
  5. branch — a division
  6. hide — to keep secret
  7. fork — to eat with
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. date — on the calendar
  10. mine — an explosive
  11. degree — an amount
  12. mine — for digging
  13. date — on the calendar
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. branch — of a bank
  16. branch — of a tree
  17. cold — an illness
  18. degree — from a university
  19. fork — in a road
  20. hide — animal skin
  21. snap — to speak sharply
  22. snap — to click
  23. fork — a garden tool
  24. snap — to snap out of it

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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