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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  3. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  4. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  5. David sat on the ________________.
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  8. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  9. How do you ________________ your surname?
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  20. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  21. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  22. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  23. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  24. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. lean — to bend
  3. present — there
  4. present — a gift
  5. swing — to play on
  6. march — music
  7. march — the month
  8. march — the month
  9. spell — letters
  10. shower — to wash
  11. degree — temperature
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. shower — rain
  15. spell — a short time
  16. wound — an injury
  17. spell — magic
  18. wound — an injury
  19. swing — music
  20. lean — to rest against
  21. lean — thin
  22. present — the time now
  23. swing — in golf
  24. degree — from a university

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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