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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: spell · march · plane · net · bore · cold · degree · stick

  1. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  4. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  5. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  6. How do you ________________ your surname?
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. The ________________ took off on time.
  11. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  12. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  13. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  20. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  23. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  24. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bore — to tire
  2. degree — from a university
  3. plane — a tool
  4. spell — magic
  5. net — in sport
  6. spell — letters
  7. degree — an amount
  8. net — for catching
  9. cold — an illness
  10. plane — an aircraft
  11. bore — to drill
  12. spell — a short time
  13. stick — to attach or keep to
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. net — after costs
  16. cold — not warm
  17. bore — gave birth
  18. march — the month
  19. march — music
  20. stick — a piece of wood
  21. degree — temperature
  22. stick — a piece of wood
  23. march — the month
  24. plane — in geometry

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