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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: chair · club · row · ball · degree · rock · land · cold

  1. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  4. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  5. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  10. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  13. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  18. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  19. The King held a masked ________________.
  20. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  21. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. The kitten curled into a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. land — a country
  3. rock — music
  4. rock — a stone
  5. chair — to sit on
  6. degree — an amount
  7. club — for dancing
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. chair — a professorship
  10. ball — a great time
  11. land — to come down
  12. rock — to move gently
  13. club — a group
  14. row — to paddle
  15. cold — not warm
  16. degree — temperature
  17. club — for golf
  18. chair — a leader
  19. ball — a dance
  20. row — a line
  21. row — a quarrel
  22. cold — an illness
  23. degree — from a university
  24. ball — a round shape

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