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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: last · arm · bat · mate · band · fall · degree · march

  1. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  2. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  3. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  10. Have you found your soul ________________?
  11. My father caught me by the ________________.
  12. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  13. False peace will not ________________.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  16. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  17. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  18. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  21. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  22. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  23. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  24. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a music group
  2. fall — to drop
  3. march — the month
  4. degree — from a university
  5. last — finally
  6. bat — the animal
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. degree — temperature
  9. mate — a friend
  10. mate — a partner
  11. arm — part of the body
  12. arm — a part of something
  13. last — to go on
  14. degree — an amount
  15. arm — part of the body
  16. march — music
  17. march — the month
  18. last — final
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. mate — to breed
  21. band — a ring
  22. band — a rubber band
  23. fall — to drop
  24. fall — the season

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