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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 116 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: degree · cabinet · row · perch · chair · kick · march · scale

  1. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  3. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  4. What do you think of the new ________________?
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  11. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  14. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  15. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  16. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  17. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  18. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  19. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  22. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  23. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  24. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. kick — in football
  3. kick — a thrill
  4. cabinet — ministers
  5. degree — temperature
  6. row — a line
  7. degree — an amount
  8. scale — for weighing
  9. degree — from a university
  10. scale — in music
  11. chair — a professorship
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. march — the month
  15. perch — the fish
  16. cabinet — ministers
  17. cabinet — a cupboard
  18. scale — size or range
  19. chair — to sit on
  20. row — to paddle
  21. perch — for a bird
  22. kick — with a leg
  23. march — the month
  24. march — music

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