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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. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  9. False peace will not ________________.
  10. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  13. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  14. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  15. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  16. David sat on the ________________.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  22. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. How do you ________________ your surname?

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

Answer key

  1. row — a line
  2. degree — from a university
  3. swing — in golf
  4. land — to come down
  5. degree — temperature
  6. spell — a short time
  7. clip — to cut
  8. swing — music
  9. last — to go on
  10. spell — magic
  11. land — a country
  12. last — finally
  13. club — for golf
  14. club — for dancing
  15. row — to paddle
  16. swing — to play on
  17. land — ground
  18. club — a group
  19. clip — for paper
  20. degree — an amount
  21. row — a quarrel
  22. last — final
  23. clip — a video
  24. spell — letters

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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