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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: march · drill · cell · kid · coach · degree

  1. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  2. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  3. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  7. He was locked up in a ________________.
  8. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  9. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  13. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  14. Have you met the new head ________________?
  15. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.

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

Answer key

  1. coach — a trainer
  2. degree — temperature
  3. coach — pulled by horses
  4. kid — child
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. drill — army training
  7. cell — in a prison
  8. march — the month
  9. cell — in biology
  10. kid — to tease
  11. degree — from a university
  12. drill — the tool
  13. march — music
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. drill — a practice
  16. degree — an amount
  17. cell — a phone
  18. march — the month

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