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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. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  3. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  4. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  5. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  6. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  7. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  8. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  9. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  10. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  11. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  12. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. Don't do anything ________________.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  17. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  18. David sat on the ________________.
  19. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  20. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. pitch — a sales talk
  3. pitch — completely
  4. face — to point toward
  5. pitch — a sports field
  6. wake — to stop sleeping
  7. rash — on the skin
  8. wake — before a funeral
  9. bank — for money
  10. wake — a trail
  11. swing — in golf
  12. face — to confront
  13. degree — temperature
  14. rash — hasty
  15. degree — an amount
  16. face — part of the head
  17. bank — of a river
  18. swing — to play on
  19. rash — a series
  20. swing — music
  21. file — a tool
  22. bank — for money
  23. file — a document
  24. file — a line of people

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