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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: nail · bank · cold · land · degree · spring · chair · toast

  1. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  2. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  3. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  7. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  8. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. The ________________ went through the wall.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. When are we going to ________________?
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  18. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  22. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. toast — the most admired
  2. chair — to sit on
  3. bank — of a river
  4. degree — temperature
  5. cold — not warm
  6. bank — for money
  7. nail — for a hammer
  8. chair — a leader
  9. spring — the season
  10. toast — bread
  11. cold — an illness
  12. nail — for a hammer
  13. land — ground
  14. land — to come down
  15. spring — a coil
  16. land — a country
  17. bank — for money
  18. toast — a drink to someone
  19. degree — an amount
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. chair — a professorship
  22. nail — on a finger
  23. spring — of water
  24. degree — from a university

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