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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 · rock · spring · lie · pop · band · degree · object

  1. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. You don't need to ________________ round.
  4. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  5. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  6. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  7. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  11. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  12. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. We're almost out of ________________.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  17. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  21. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  22. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  23. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  24. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. chair — a leader
  3. pop — to visit
  4. lie — an untruth
  5. lie — to recline
  6. chair — to sit on
  7. band — a music group
  8. spring — the season
  9. degree — from a university
  10. rock — music
  11. rock — to move gently
  12. pop — music
  13. degree — temperature
  14. pop — soda
  15. spring — a coil
  16. object — to protest
  17. rock — a stone
  18. spring — of water
  19. degree — an amount
  20. chair — a professorship
  21. band — a rubber band
  22. lie — an untruth
  23. object — an aim
  24. object — a thing

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