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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 116 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 · cold · wake · hand · pop · board · firm · branch

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  3. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  4. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  5. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  6. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  7. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  8. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  11. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  14. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. We're almost out of ________________.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  24. You don't need to ________________ round.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. firm — steady
  3. branch — a division
  4. wake — before a funeral
  5. branch — of a tree
  6. hand — part of the body
  7. branch — of a bank
  8. firm — decided
  9. cold — not warm
  10. wake — to stop sleeping
  11. board — a flat piece
  12. hand — in cards
  13. wake — a trail
  14. firm — a company
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. pop — music
  17. hand — help
  18. board — a committee
  19. cold — an illness
  20. pop — soda
  21. degree — temperature
  22. degree — from a university
  23. board — to get on
  24. pop — to visit

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