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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.

Make a worksheet

Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

Words on the sheet
468
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: degree · cell · wax · chip · coach · march · spring · mine

  1. Have you met the new head ________________?
  2. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  5. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  11. He was locked up in a ________________.
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  15. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  16. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  17. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  18. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  23. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  24. There's a computer ________________ on the table.

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

Answer key

  1. coach — a trainer
  2. march — the month
  3. mine — belonging to me
  4. wax — to grow
  5. march — the month
  6. mine — for digging
  7. spring — a coil
  8. cell — a phone
  9. degree — an amount
  10. chip — to eat
  11. cell — in a prison
  12. cell — in biology
  13. degree — temperature
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. wax — in the ear
  16. coach — pulled by horses
  17. mine — an explosive
  18. march — music
  19. degree — from a university
  20. spring — of water
  21. spring — the season
  22. wax — for sculpting
  23. chip — for betting
  24. chip — in a computer

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