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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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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: craft · wake · row · degree · mate · pound · branch · tear

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  3. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  4. Have you found your soul ________________?
  5. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  6. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  11. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  12. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  13. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  14. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  17. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  18. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  19. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  20. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  21. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  22. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  23. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. craft — boats
  3. branch — of a bank
  4. mate — a partner
  5. wake — a trail
  6. branch — a division
  7. degree — from a university
  8. branch — of a tree
  9. tear — from crying
  10. tear — to rip
  11. row — to paddle
  12. pound — a weight
  13. wake — before a funeral
  14. pound — for dogs
  15. tear — from crying
  16. pound — to hit hard
  17. craft — a handicraft
  18. wake — to stop sleeping
  19. row — a quarrel
  20. mate — a friend
  21. row — a line
  22. mate — to breed
  23. craft — a skill
  24. degree — temperature

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