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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. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  2. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  5. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  6. David sat on the ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. How do you ________________ your surname?
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  15. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  16. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  17. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  22. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  23. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  24. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — music
  2. spell — magic
  3. cold — not warm
  4. lash — to lash out
  5. fan — to cool the air
  6. swing — to play on
  7. cold — an illness
  8. spell — letters
  9. file — a line of people
  10. fan — a supporter
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. degree — an amount
  13. file — a document
  14. craft — a skill
  15. spell — a short time
  16. lash — an eyelash
  17. craft — a handicraft
  18. file — a tool
  19. degree — from a university
  20. degree — temperature
  21. lash — a whip stroke
  22. fan — a supporter
  23. craft — boats
  24. swing — in golf

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