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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: fall · degree · kick · cell · fan · season · row · bowl

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  3. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  4. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  5. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  6. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  7. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  8. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  9. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  10. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  11. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  12. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  13. He was locked up in a ________________.
  14. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  15. Did you ________________ the meat?
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  18. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  19. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  23. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  24. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. kick — a thrill
  3. season — in sport
  4. row — a line
  5. kick — with a leg
  6. cell — in biology
  7. bowl — to roll
  8. fan — a supporter
  9. fan — to cool the air
  10. fall — the season
  11. bowl — a football final
  12. kick — in football
  13. cell — in a prison
  14. row — a quarrel
  15. season — to add flavour
  16. degree — from a university
  17. bowl — a dish
  18. fan — a supporter
  19. fall — to drop
  20. row — to paddle
  21. degree — temperature
  22. cell — a phone
  23. season — of the year
  24. fall — to drop

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