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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. David sat on the ________________.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  6. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  7. My father caught me by the ________________.
  8. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  9. She's very handy with a ________________.
  10. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  17. Have you settled on a ________________?
  18. It's one o'clock ________________.
  19. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  20. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  21. He works in a ________________ mill.
  22. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. He hit the ball with his ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — to play on
  2. degree — an amount
  3. sharp — clever
  4. spring — a coil
  5. racket — a loud noise
  6. sharp — with an edge
  7. arm — part of the body
  8. date — the fruit
  9. saw — the tool
  10. arm — part of the body
  11. degree — from a university
  12. date — on the calendar
  13. spring — of water
  14. arm — a part of something
  15. spring — the season
  16. saw — past of 'see'
  17. date — on the calendar
  18. sharp — exactly
  19. swing — music
  20. swing — in golf
  21. saw — the tool
  22. racket — for tennis
  23. degree — temperature
  24. racket — for tennis

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