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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: race · cell · arm · degree · branch · lash · kick · cold

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  3. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  6. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  7. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  8. My father caught me by the ________________.
  9. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  12. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  13. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  14. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  21. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  24. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. arm — a part of something
  3. kick — a thrill
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. race — humankind
  6. race — the arms race
  7. branch — a division
  8. arm — part of the body
  9. branch — of a bank
  10. degree — temperature
  11. race — a contest
  12. lash — a whip stroke
  13. lash — an eyelash
  14. arm — part of the body
  15. cell — in biology
  16. cold — an illness
  17. cold — not warm
  18. branch — of a tree
  19. degree — from a university
  20. kick — in football
  21. lash — to lash out
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. cell — a phone
  24. kick — with a leg

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