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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: march · jam · spell · sharp · cold · pound · chair · degree

  1. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  2. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  3. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  4. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  5. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  6. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  12. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  15. How do you ________________ your surname?
  16. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  17. It's one o'clock ________________.
  18. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  19. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — with an edge
  2. jam — a tight spot
  3. pound — a weight
  4. jam — to spread on bread
  5. march — music
  6. sharp — clever
  7. degree — an amount
  8. pound — to hit hard
  9. cold — an illness
  10. degree — from a university
  11. march — the month
  12. spell — a short time
  13. degree — temperature
  14. chair — to sit on
  15. spell — letters
  16. pound — for dogs
  17. sharp — exactly
  18. spell — magic
  19. chair — a leader
  20. march — the month
  21. chair — a professorship
  22. cold — not warm
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. jam — in traffic

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