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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: fan · can · chest · board · degree · march · wax · cold

  1. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  2. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  8. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  9. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  10. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  17. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  18. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  19. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. The moon will ________________ and wane.

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

Answer key

  1. board — a flat piece
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. cold — not warm
  4. degree — temperature
  5. march — the month
  6. chest — of your body
  7. fan — a supporter
  8. can — a tin
  9. fan — to cool the air
  10. board — a committee
  11. chest — of your body
  12. wax — for sculpting
  13. chest — a box
  14. degree — from a university
  15. cold — an illness
  16. can — a tin
  17. wax — in the ear
  18. board — to get on
  19. can — to be able to
  20. march — the month
  21. degree — an amount
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. march — music
  24. wax — to grow

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