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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 120 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: board · wake · degree · spring · march · hand · cell · tube

  1. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  14. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  15. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  16. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  17. I'll be taking the ________________.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  20. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. board — a flat piece
  3. spring — of water
  4. board — to get on
  5. degree — an amount
  6. spring — a coil
  7. spring — the season
  8. wake — before a funeral
  9. hand — help
  10. cell — a phone
  11. degree — temperature
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. wake — a trail
  14. march — the month
  15. march — music
  16. tube — in a tire
  17. tube — the underground
  18. degree — from a university
  19. wake — to stop sleeping
  20. board — a committee
  21. hand — in cards
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. tube — a container
  24. cell — in biology

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