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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: band · arm · degree · march · court · chest · squash · bound

  1. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. My father caught me by the ________________.
  4. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  5. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  6. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  7. That was ________________ to happen.
  8. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. The ball is in your ________________.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  17. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  20. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  21. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  24. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.

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

Answer key

  1. arm — part of the body
  2. band — a music group
  3. arm — part of the body
  4. squash — the sport
  5. march — music
  6. march — the month
  7. bound — certain
  8. squash — to crush
  9. chest — of your body
  10. court — for sport
  11. chest — a box
  12. court — of a king
  13. degree — from a university
  14. chest — of your body
  15. degree — an amount
  16. bound — obliged
  17. court — of law
  18. march — the month
  19. band — a ring
  20. arm — a part of something
  21. bound — tied together
  22. degree — temperature
  23. band — a rubber band
  24. squash — the vegetable

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