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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: march · plane · fine · wind · degree · date · field · chest

  1. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. The ________________ took off on time.
  4. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  5. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  18. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  19. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  22. Have you settled on a ________________?
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.

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

Answer key

  1. march — music
  2. degree — from a university
  3. plane — an aircraft
  4. chest — a box
  5. march — the month
  6. chest — of your body
  7. degree — an amount
  8. date — the fruit
  9. chest — of your body
  10. wind — moving air
  11. plane — a tool
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. march — the month
  14. field — a subject
  15. fine — a penalty
  16. degree — temperature
  17. wind — moving air
  18. fine — all right
  19. date — on the calendar
  20. field — farmland
  21. plane — in geometry
  22. date — on the calendar
  23. field — for sport
  24. fine — high quality

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