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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 · content · racket · branch · spell · stick · pound

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  5. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  6. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  10. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  11. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  12. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  13. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  16. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  17. How do you ________________ your surname?
  18. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  24. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. branch — of a tree
  3. degree — from a university
  4. racket — a loud noise
  5. stick — to attach or keep to
  6. pound — a weight
  7. degree — temperature
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. spell — a short time
  10. branch — of a bank
  11. content — happy
  12. stick — a piece of wood
  13. racket — for tennis
  14. content — the amount
  15. racket — for tennis
  16. pound — for dogs
  17. spell — letters
  18. branch — a division
  19. cold — an illness
  20. cold — not warm
  21. spell — magic
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. stick — a piece of wood
  24. pound — to hit hard

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