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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: club · degree · plane · present · bank · chair · cold · game

  1. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  3. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  4. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  5. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  6. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  7. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  8. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  9. The ________________ took off on time.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  18. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  22. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  23. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  24. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. club — a group
  3. present — the time now
  4. bank — of a river
  5. club — for golf
  6. chair — a leader
  7. club — for dancing
  8. plane — in geometry
  9. plane — an aircraft
  10. game — a match
  11. present — there
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. game — wild animals
  14. cold — not warm
  15. degree — from a university
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. degree — an amount
  18. bank — for money
  19. cold — an illness
  20. degree — temperature
  21. bank — for money
  22. plane — a tool
  23. chair — a professorship
  24. present — a gift

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