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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: bark · last · press · band · branch · club · degree · mine

  1. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  2. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  8. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  9. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. Did you ________________ the button?
  12. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  15. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  16. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  17. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  19. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. False peace will not ________________.
  23. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  24. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.

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

Answer key

  1. branch — a division
  2. club — for dancing
  3. band — a ring
  4. degree — an amount
  5. branch — of a bank
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. bark — a dog's sound
  8. branch — of a tree
  9. bark — of a tree
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. press — to push
  12. club — a group
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. last — final
  15. band — a music group
  16. bark — to shout
  17. last — finally
  18. mine — for digging
  19. press — newspapers
  20. degree — from a university
  21. degree — temperature
  22. last — to go on
  23. club — for golf
  24. press — a publisher

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