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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: degree · branch · capital · wax · wake · current · press · clip

  1. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  2. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  3. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  4. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  9. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  10. Did you ________________ the button?
  11. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  12. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  13. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  19. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — to stop sleeping
  2. current — electric
  3. branch — of a tree
  4. wake — before a funeral
  5. capital — a city
  6. wax — for sculpting
  7. degree — from a university
  8. press — newspapers
  9. branch — of a bank
  10. press — to push
  11. press — a publisher
  12. wake — a trail
  13. current — of water
  14. capital — money
  15. clip — a video
  16. wax — to grow
  17. degree — temperature
  18. branch — a division
  19. wax — in the ear
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. degree — an amount
  22. clip — to cut
  23. clip — for paper
  24. current — happening now

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