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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: ball · dip · branch · rush · cold · vault · degree · clip

  1. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  2. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  3. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  6. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  9. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  10. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  13. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. The King held a masked ________________.
  16. That must've been a ________________.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  24. Biology is a ________________ of science.

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

Answer key

  1. branch — of a tree
  2. rush — to hurry
  3. dip — to dunk
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. branch — of a bank
  6. dip — a sauce
  7. clip — a video
  8. vault — a safe
  9. ball — a great time
  10. vault — an arched ceiling
  11. clip — to cut
  12. vault — in gymnastics
  13. dip — to sink
  14. degree — from a university
  15. ball — a dance
  16. rush — a thrill
  17. clip — for paper
  18. rush — hurry
  19. degree — an amount
  20. cold — an illness
  21. degree — temperature
  22. cold — not warm
  23. ball — a round shape
  24. branch — a division

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