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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: bark · degree · rash · branch · cold · swing · chair · stick

  1. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  3. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  4. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  9. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  12. David sat on the ________________.
  13. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  14. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  17. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  18. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  19. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  20. Don't do anything ________________.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  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. chair — a professorship
  2. stick — to attach or keep to
  3. chair — to sit on
  4. branch — of a bank
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. swing — in golf
  7. cold — an illness
  8. rash — on the skin
  9. bark — a dog's sound
  10. degree — from a university
  11. rash — a series
  12. swing — to play on
  13. stick — a piece of wood
  14. bark — of a tree
  15. cold — not warm
  16. branch — of a tree
  17. bark — to shout
  18. chair — a leader
  19. stick — a piece of wood
  20. rash — hasty
  21. degree — an amount
  22. swing — music
  23. branch — a division
  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