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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 116 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. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  2. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  5. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  8. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  9. David sat on the ________________.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. The ________________ took off on time.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  14. That was ________________ to happen.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  20. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  21. Have you met the new head ________________?
  22. Did you ________________ the meat?
  23. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  24. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. season — of the year
  2. straw — a straw man
  3. degree — an amount
  4. bound — obliged
  5. plane — in geometry
  6. degree — temperature
  7. bound — tied together
  8. season — in sport
  9. swing — to play on
  10. field — farmland
  11. plane — an aircraft
  12. degree — from a university
  13. coach — pulled by horses
  14. bound — certain
  15. field — a subject
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. plane — a tool
  18. field — for sport
  19. coach — a trainer
  20. straw — dry grass
  21. coach — a trainer
  22. season — to add flavour
  23. swing — in golf
  24. swing — music

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