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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 120 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. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  6. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  7. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  8. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  9. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. David sat on the ________________.
  14. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  15. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  16. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  17. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  18. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  21. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  22. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  23. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — past of 'wind'
  2. content — happy
  3. degree — temperature
  4. degree — from a university
  5. wound — an injury
  6. drill — army training
  7. face — part of the head
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. swing — in golf
  10. degree — an amount
  11. drill — a practice
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. swing — to play on
  14. wound — an injury
  15. row — to paddle
  16. row — a line
  17. face — to point toward
  18. swing — music
  19. content — the amount
  20. face — to confront
  21. drill — the tool
  22. perch — the fish
  23. perch — for a bird
  24. content — videos and posts

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