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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: straw · key · cold · wind · track · branch · degree · pop

  1. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  6. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  7. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  8. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. You don't need to ________________ round.
  16. We're almost out of ________________.
  17. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  18. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  19. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. This piece is in a major ________________.
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — dry grass
  2. cold — not warm
  3. straw — a straw man
  4. degree — from a university
  5. straw — to clutch at straws
  6. key — the most important part
  7. branch — a division
  8. branch — of a bank
  9. degree — temperature
  10. branch — of a tree
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. key — for a lock
  14. wind — moving air
  15. pop — to visit
  16. pop — soda
  17. track — a song
  18. track — a path
  19. track — to keep track
  20. degree — an amount
  21. pop — music
  22. cold — an illness
  23. key — in music
  24. wind — moving air

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