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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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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: kid · cold · cabinet · last · branch · object · degree · chest

  1. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  5. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  6. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  7. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. What do you think of the new ________________?
  12. False peace will not ________________.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  15. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  22. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. branch — a division
  3. cold — an illness
  4. branch — of a tree
  5. last — finally
  6. branch — of a bank
  7. kid — child
  8. chest — of your body
  9. object — a thing
  10. cold — not warm
  11. cabinet — ministers
  12. last — to go on
  13. degree — temperature
  14. cabinet — a cupboard
  15. object — an aim
  16. degree — from a university
  17. last — final
  18. degree — an amount
  19. cabinet — ministers
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. object — to protest
  22. chest — of your body
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. chest — a box

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