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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. Don't do anything ________________.
  2. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  3. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  4. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  5. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  8. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  9. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  10. David sat on the ________________.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  13. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  14. He works in a ________________ mill.
  15. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  16. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  21. She's very handy with a ________________.
  22. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — hasty
  2. degree — temperature
  3. wax — to grow
  4. hide — to keep secret
  5. hide — to keep secret
  6. cold — not warm
  7. racket — a loud noise
  8. racket — for tennis
  9. swing — in golf
  10. swing — to play on
  11. degree — an amount
  12. saw — past of 'see'
  13. hide — animal skin
  14. saw — the tool
  15. rash — on the skin
  16. wax — for sculpting
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. swing — music
  19. degree — from a university
  20. racket — for tennis
  21. saw — the tool
  22. wax — in the ear
  23. cold — an illness
  24. rash — a series

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