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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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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 strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  2. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  3. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  6. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. David sat on the ________________.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. This piece is in a major ________________.
  17. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  18. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  19. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  20. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  21. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  22. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. key — the most important part
  3. march — the month
  4. cold — not warm
  5. swing — in golf
  6. chair — a leader
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. swing — to play on
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. march — the month
  11. cold — an illness
  12. wake — a trail
  13. wind — moving air
  14. swing — music
  15. degree — from a university
  16. key — in music
  17. degree — an amount
  18. wake — before a funeral
  19. key — for a lock
  20. chair — a professorship
  21. chair — to sit on
  22. wake — to stop sleeping
  23. march — music
  24. degree — temperature

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