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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 · band · staff · face · perch · degree · stock · march

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  3. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  4. The ________________ market has crashed.
  5. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  6. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  7. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  8. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  14. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  15. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  16. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  17. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  20. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  21. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  24. What's the difference between broth and ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. perch — for a bird
  3. staff — employees
  4. stock — shares
  5. perch — the fish
  6. staff — employees
  7. land — a country
  8. march — the month
  9. degree — from a university
  10. band — a ring
  11. degree — temperature
  12. march — music
  13. face — to confront
  14. face — to point toward
  15. stock — goods
  16. band — a music group
  17. march — the month
  18. land — ground
  19. staff — a stick
  20. face — part of the head
  21. band — a rubber band
  22. land — to come down
  23. perch — for a bird
  24. stock — a soup base

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