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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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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  2. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  7. How do you ________________ your surname?
  8. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  11. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  14. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  15. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  16. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  21. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  22. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. fine — all right
  3. chair — a leader
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. game — a match
  6. chair — a professorship
  7. spell — letters
  8. bank — for money
  9. degree — temperature
  10. spell — a short time
  11. fine — high quality
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. spell — magic
  14. march — the month
  15. march — music
  16. fine — a penalty
  17. mine — for digging
  18. game — a kind of play
  19. degree — an amount
  20. bank — for money
  21. bank — of a river
  22. chair — to sit on
  23. degree — from a university
  24. game — wild animals

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