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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 · suit · mug · kid · degree · land · board · drill

  1. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  4. Where did you ________________ them?
  5. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  8. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  9. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  14. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  15. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  16. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  21. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  22. When will it ________________ you to start?
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. board — a committee
  2. land — ground
  3. degree — temperature
  4. mug — to rob
  5. suit — in cards
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. mug — a face
  8. march — the month
  9. mug — a cup
  10. kid — to tease
  11. suit — clothes
  12. degree — an amount
  13. board — a flat piece
  14. board — to get on
  15. drill — a practice
  16. drill — army training
  17. degree — from a university
  18. march — the month
  19. kid — child
  20. march — music
  21. drill — the tool
  22. suit — to fit
  23. land — to come down
  24. land — a country

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