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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: hand · fork · pitch · chair · march · degree · mark · wax

  1. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  11. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  14. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  15. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  16. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  19. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  20. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  21. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  24. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.

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

Answer key

  1. mark — a trace
  2. chair — a leader
  3. hand — help
  4. wax — in the ear
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. mark — a grade
  7. march — music
  8. hand — in cards
  9. degree — an amount
  10. chair — a professorship
  11. mark — to pay attention
  12. degree — from a university
  13. wax — to grow
  14. fork — a garden tool
  15. march — the month
  16. fork — to eat with
  17. degree — temperature
  18. wax — for sculpting
  19. chair — to sit on
  20. pitch — completely
  21. fork — in a road
  22. march — the month
  23. pitch — a sports field
  24. pitch — a sales talk

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