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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 116 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: chair · march · degree · race · hide · pound · pop · can

  1. You don't need to ________________ round.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  4. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  5. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  6. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  12. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  13. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  14. We're almost out of ________________.
  15. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  16. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  19. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  20. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  21. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  22. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  23. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  24. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — to visit
  2. degree — an amount
  3. chair — a professorship
  4. pound — to hit hard
  5. hide — animal skin
  6. pop — music
  7. degree — temperature
  8. degree — from a university
  9. march — the month
  10. race — the arms race
  11. chair — to sit on
  12. can — a tin
  13. hide — to keep secret
  14. pop — soda
  15. march — the month
  16. march — music
  17. race — a contest
  18. race — humankind
  19. can — to be able to
  20. pound — a weight
  21. chair — a leader
  22. can — a tin
  23. hide — to keep secret
  24. pound — for dogs

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