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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: chair · march · fall · spring · degree · kick

  1. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  7. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  10. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  11. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  14. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  15. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. march — music
  3. degree — an amount
  4. kick — with a leg
  5. spring — a coil
  6. kick — a thrill
  7. chair — a leader
  8. degree — temperature
  9. march — the month
  10. fall — to drop
  11. fall — the season
  12. spring — the season
  13. march — the month
  14. fall — to drop
  15. chair — a professorship
  16. degree — from a university
  17. kick — in football
  18. spring — of water

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