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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: game · suit · row · cold · march · net · degree · trunk

  1. That was a fun ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  4. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  5. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  13. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  14. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  15. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  16. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  17. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  18. When will it ________________ you to start?
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. cold — an illness
  3. trunk — of a tree
  4. march — the month
  5. trunk — of an elephant
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. march — music
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. game — wild animals
  10. row — a quarrel
  11. cold — not warm
  12. net — for catching
  13. net — in sport
  14. suit — clothes
  15. net — after costs
  16. trunk — of a car
  17. march — the month
  18. suit — to fit
  19. degree — temperature
  20. suit — in cards
  21. row — to paddle
  22. degree — from a university
  23. degree — an amount
  24. row — a line

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