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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: cabinet · rest · march · branch · squash · hand · degree · net

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  5. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  8. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  11. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  12. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  15. What do you think of the new ________________?
  16. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  19. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  20. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  21. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  22. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  23. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  24. The ball hit the back of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. rest — a break
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. squash — the vegetable
  5. hand — in cards
  6. degree — from a university
  7. cabinet — ministers
  8. net — for catching
  9. hand — help
  10. branch — of a bank
  11. cabinet — a cupboard
  12. march — the month
  13. march — the month
  14. rest — what's left
  15. cabinet — ministers
  16. squash — to crush
  17. degree — temperature
  18. branch — of a tree
  19. march — music
  20. net — after costs
  21. rest — what's left
  22. squash — the sport
  23. branch — a division
  24. net — in sport

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