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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: tear · branch · bass · last · pop · fan · fall · degree

  1. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  4. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  5. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  6. We're almost out of ________________.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  11. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  12. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  13. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  18. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  19. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  20. False peace will not ________________.
  21. You don't need to ________________ round.
  22. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  23. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  24. Can you turn the ________________ on?

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. degree — an amount
  3. pop — music
  4. tear — from crying
  5. fan — a supporter
  6. pop — soda
  7. degree — temperature
  8. fall — the season
  9. degree — from a university
  10. bass — the fish
  11. last — finally
  12. bass — the instrument
  13. fall — to drop
  14. tear — to rip
  15. branch — of a tree
  16. tear — from crying
  17. bass — low music
  18. fall — to drop
  19. last — final
  20. last — to go on
  21. pop — to visit
  22. branch — a division
  23. branch — of a bank
  24. fan — to cool the 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