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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: land · degree · swing · march · chair · branch · staff · pop

  1. We're almost out of ________________.
  2. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  6. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  9. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  10. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  11. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  12. David sat on the ________________.
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  17. You don't need to ________________ round.
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  20. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  23. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  24. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — soda
  2. chair — a professorship
  3. march — the month
  4. degree — from a university
  5. staff — employees
  6. branch — of a tree
  7. degree — temperature
  8. branch — a division
  9. pop — music
  10. march — the month
  11. staff — a stick
  12. swing — to play on
  13. land — a country
  14. chair — a leader
  15. land — to come down
  16. staff — employees
  17. pop — to visit
  18. land — ground
  19. march — music
  20. swing — music
  21. degree — an amount
  22. branch — of a bank
  23. chair — to sit on
  24. swing — in golf

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