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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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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: fan · degree · field · cue · branch · kid · swing · rule

  1. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  7. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  8. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  9. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  10. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  11. David sat on the ________________.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  20. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  21. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  22. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  23. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  24. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?

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

Answer key

  1. cue — a hint
  2. kid — child
  3. field — for sport
  4. fan — a supporter
  5. field — farmland
  6. cue — for pool
  7. branch — of a bank
  8. rule — to rule out
  9. rule — a law
  10. swing — in golf
  11. swing — to play on
  12. kid — to tease
  13. degree — an amount
  14. field — a subject
  15. fan — to cool the air
  16. degree — from a university
  17. degree — temperature
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. swing — music
  20. fan — a supporter
  21. cue — a signal
  22. branch — of a tree
  23. branch — a division
  24. rule — government

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