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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: land · board · march · chair · foot · rash · rush · degree

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  3. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  4. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  5. Don't do anything ________________.
  6. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  7. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  8. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  11. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  15. That must've been a ________________.
  16. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  21. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  22. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  23. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. march — music
  3. rash — on the skin
  4. rush — hurry
  5. rash — hasty
  6. board — a committee
  7. chair — a professorship
  8. rush — to hurry
  9. land — ground
  10. chair — a leader
  11. board — to get on
  12. land — to come down
  13. march — the month
  14. land — a country
  15. rush — a thrill
  16. foot — a measure
  17. degree — from a university
  18. foot — part of the body
  19. march — the month
  20. chair — to sit on
  21. foot — the bottom
  22. board — a flat piece
  23. rash — a series
  24. degree — temperature

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