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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: board · degree · ruler · tube · field · chair · kid · march

  1. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  4. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  5. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  11. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  14. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  15. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  16. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  17. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. I'll be taking the ________________.
  20. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  21. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  22. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. field — farmland
  3. board — a committee
  4. ruler — a monarch
  5. march — the month
  6. field — a subject
  7. kid — to tease
  8. degree — from a university
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. tube — in a tire
  11. ruler — for measuring
  12. kid — child
  13. chair — a professorship
  14. ruler — for measuring
  15. tube — a container
  16. march — the month
  17. march — music
  18. field — for sport
  19. tube — the underground
  20. board — to get on
  21. chair — to sit on
  22. board — a flat piece
  23. degree — temperature
  24. degree — an amount

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