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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 my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  2. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  3. David sat on the ________________.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  6. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  9. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  12. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  13. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  16. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  17. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  19. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  20. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  21. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. He's taking a ________________ right now.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — temperature
  2. snap — to speak sharply
  3. swing — to play on
  4. game — a match
  5. track — to keep track
  6. snap — to snap out of it
  7. game — wild animals
  8. shower — a meteor shower
  9. march — the month
  10. degree — from a university
  11. dip — to sink
  12. dip — to dunk
  13. track — a path
  14. degree — an amount
  15. dip — a sauce
  16. march — the month
  17. swing — in golf
  18. game — a kind of play
  19. swing — music
  20. snap — to click
  21. track — a song
  22. shower — rain
  23. march — music
  24. shower — to wash

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