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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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 · march · content · stem · mine · band · firm · cap

  1. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  2. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  3. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  6. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  7. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  10. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  11. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  12. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  15. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  16. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  17. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  18. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  19. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  20. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  21. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — for digging
  2. degree — temperature
  3. mine — an explosive
  4. content — happy
  5. firm — steady
  6. band — a music group
  7. firm — decided
  8. degree — an amount
  9. content — the amount
  10. cap — a hat
  11. stem — a stem cell
  12. band — a rubber band
  13. march — the month
  14. stem — of a plant
  15. band — a ring
  16. stem — to come from
  17. cap — a lid
  18. firm — a company
  19. cap — of ice
  20. march — the month
  21. mine — belonging to me
  22. degree — from a university
  23. march — music
  24. content — videos and posts

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