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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: season · ground · degree · cold · scale · land · chair · march

  1. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  2. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  3. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. There's no middle ________________.
  7. Did you ________________ the meat?
  8. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  9. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  15. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  19. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  20. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  21. When are we going to ________________?
  22. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  23. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. season — of the year
  2. march — the month
  3. scale — in music
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. degree — temperature
  6. ground — a position
  7. season — to add flavour
  8. chair — a professorship
  9. march — music
  10. degree — an amount
  11. land — ground
  12. scale — size or range
  13. degree — from a university
  14. march — the month
  15. chair — a leader
  16. land — a country
  17. cold — an illness
  18. scale — for weighing
  19. season — in sport
  20. ground — the earth
  21. land — to come down
  22. ground — crushed
  23. chair — to sit on
  24. cold — not warm

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