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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. You don't need to ________________ round.
  2. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  3. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  4. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  5. We're almost out of ________________.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  8. She's very handy with a ________________.
  9. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  10. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  11. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  12. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  13. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  17. David sat on the ________________.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  21. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  22. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  23. He works in a ________________ mill.
  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. pop — to visit
  2. march — the month
  3. perch — the fish
  4. saw — past of 'see'
  5. pop — soda
  6. degree — from a university
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. saw — the tool
  9. swing — music
  10. hide — to keep secret
  11. hide — to keep secret
  12. march — the month
  13. swing — in golf
  14. field — a subject
  15. field — for sport
  16. pop — music
  17. swing — to play on
  18. degree — an amount
  19. field — farmland
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. march — music
  22. hide — animal skin
  23. saw — the tool
  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