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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. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  2. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  5. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  6. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  7. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  8. When will it ________________ you to start?
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  11. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  14. David sat on the ________________.
  15. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  19. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  20. Did you ________________ the meat?
  21. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  22. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  23. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — to hit hard
  2. swing — in golf
  3. degree — from a university
  4. suit — in cards
  5. chair — a leader
  6. season — in sport
  7. suit — clothes
  8. suit — to fit
  9. degree — an amount
  10. season — of the year
  11. chair — to sit on
  12. cold — not warm
  13. pound — for dogs
  14. swing — to play on
  15. swing — music
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. cold — an illness
  18. band — a music group
  19. pound — a weight
  20. season — to add flavour
  21. band — a rubber band
  22. chair — a professorship
  23. band — a ring
  24. degree — temperature

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