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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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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  2. That was a fun ________________.
  3. David sat on the ________________.
  4. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  8. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — in golf
  2. game — a match
  3. swing — to play on
  4. wind — moving air
  5. degree — an amount
  6. land — to come down
  7. land — a country
  8. game — wild animals
  9. land — ground
  10. degree — temperature
  11. wind — moving air
  12. spring — the season
  13. spring — of water
  14. swing — music
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. spring — a coil
  17. degree — from a university
  18. wind — to turn a key

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