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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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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: charge · band · fall · cold · degree · bank · board · wake

  1. The tickets are free of ________________.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  7. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  10. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  13. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  14. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  15. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  16. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  17. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  18. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  19. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  22. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  23. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  24. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. charge — a price
  2. degree — an amount
  3. wake — a trail
  4. degree — from a university
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. fall — to drop
  7. bank — for money
  8. degree — temperature
  9. bank — for money
  10. band — a ring
  11. cold — an illness
  12. charge — in control
  13. charge — electricity
  14. wake — to stop sleeping
  15. board — a flat piece
  16. fall — the season
  17. fall — to drop
  18. board — to get on
  19. board — a committee
  20. cold — not warm
  21. band — a rubber band
  22. band — a music group
  23. wake — before a funeral
  24. bank — of a river

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