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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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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: last · tear · degree · snap · branch · chair · game · mate

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  4. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  10. Have you found your soul ________________?
  11. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  17. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  18. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  19. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  20. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  21. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  22. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  23. That was a fun ________________.
  24. False peace will not ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. last — final
  3. chair — a professorship
  4. snap — to snap out of it
  5. tear — from crying
  6. degree — from a university
  7. chair — a leader
  8. tear — to rip
  9. snap — to speak sharply
  10. mate — a partner
  11. last — finally
  12. tear — from crying
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. mate — a friend
  15. degree — temperature
  16. snap — to click
  17. mate — to breed
  18. branch — of a bank
  19. game — wild animals
  20. branch — of a tree
  21. chair — to sit on
  22. branch — a division
  23. game — a match
  24. last — to go on

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