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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: fall · branch · band · lean · pitch · capital · degree · squash

  1. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  4. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  7. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  13. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  14. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  15. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  16. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  17. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  18. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  19. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  20. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  23. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  24. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — to bend
  2. degree — from a university
  3. fall — to drop
  4. branch — of a tree
  5. degree — temperature
  6. lean — to rest against
  7. squash — the vegetable
  8. capital — a city
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. branch — a division
  11. degree — an amount
  12. lean — thin
  13. branch — of a bank
  14. band — a ring
  15. fall — the season
  16. squash — to crush
  17. fall — to drop
  18. pitch — a sports field
  19. squash — the sport
  20. pitch — a sales talk
  21. capital — money
  22. band — a rubber band
  23. pitch — completely
  24. band — a music group

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