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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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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 · swing · clip · key · chair · trunk · branch · kid

  1. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  10. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  11. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. David sat on the ________________.
  15. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  16. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  19. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  20. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  21. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  22. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  23. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  24. This piece is in a major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. clip — for paper
  3. kid — child
  4. clip — to cut
  5. kid — to tease
  6. trunk — of a tree
  7. clip — a video
  8. degree — an amount
  9. chair — a leader
  10. branch — a division
  11. key — the most important part
  12. degree — from a university
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. swing — to play on
  15. branch — of a tree
  16. key — for a lock
  17. degree — temperature
  18. swing — in golf
  19. swing — music
  20. trunk — of a car
  21. branch — of a bank
  22. chair — a professorship
  23. trunk — of an elephant
  24. key — in music

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