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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 120 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: band · wound · degree · stand · chair · racket · tube · row

  1. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  6. I'll be taking the ________________.
  7. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  8. I can't ________________ this cold.
  9. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  17. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  18. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  19. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  20. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  23. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  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. chair — a leader
  2. band — a music group
  3. chair — to sit on
  4. degree — temperature
  5. racket — for tennis
  6. tube — the underground
  7. chair — a professorship
  8. stand — to bear
  9. wound — an injury
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. wound — an injury
  12. degree — an amount
  13. tube — in a tire
  14. row — a line
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. row — a quarrel
  17. band — a ring
  18. racket — a loud noise
  19. stand — for spectators
  20. tube — a container
  21. row — to paddle
  22. racket — for tennis
  23. stand — on your feet
  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