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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: rash · spring · date · row · ground · race · degree · branch

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. Don't do anything ________________.
  3. There's no middle ________________.
  4. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  5. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  6. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  7. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  13. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  17. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  18. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  19. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  22. Have you settled on a ________________?
  23. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. rash — hasty
  3. ground — a position
  4. rash — a series
  5. row — a line
  6. ground — crushed
  7. date — on the calendar
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. degree — from a university
  10. branch — of a tree
  11. spring — a coil
  12. branch — of a bank
  13. race — a contest
  14. row — to paddle
  15. degree — temperature
  16. ground — the earth
  17. date — the fruit
  18. branch — a division
  19. rash — on the skin
  20. spring — the season
  21. race — humankind
  22. date — on the calendar
  23. race — the arms race
  24. spring — of water

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