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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. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  2. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  3. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  4. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  5. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  8. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  9. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  10. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  11. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  12. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  15. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  16. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  17. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  18. How do you ________________ your surname?
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. David sat on the ________________.
  22. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. That must've been a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fine — high quality
  2. bark — to shout
  3. degree — temperature
  4. swing — in golf
  5. spell — a short time
  6. chest — of your body
  7. kid — child
  8. rush — to hurry
  9. rush — hurry
  10. bark — a dog's sound
  11. kid — to tease
  12. bark — of a tree
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. fine — a penalty
  15. chest — of your body
  16. swing — music
  17. fine — all right
  18. spell — letters
  19. degree — from a university
  20. chest — a box
  21. swing — to play on
  22. spell — magic
  23. degree — an amount
  24. rush — a thrill

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