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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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  4. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  5. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  9. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  10. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  11. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  12. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  15. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  16. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  17. David sat on the ________________.
  18. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  19. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  20. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. We're on a ________________ here.
  23. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  24. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. row — a line
  3. swing — music
  4. fan — to cool the air
  5. mine — an explosive
  6. mine — for digging
  7. degree — temperature
  8. fan — a supporter
  9. fan — a supporter
  10. firm — steady
  11. swing — in golf
  12. firm — a company
  13. tear — from crying
  14. row — a quarrel
  15. row — to paddle
  16. firm — decided
  17. swing — to play on
  18. tear — from crying
  19. tear — to rip
  20. roll — a cake
  21. degree — an amount
  22. roll — on a roll
  23. mine — belonging to me
  24. roll — a list

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