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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. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. My father caught me by the ________________.
  8. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  9. The ________________ took off on time.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  13. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  14. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  20. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  23. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  24. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — to play on
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. swing — music
  4. degree — an amount
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. mine — for digging
  7. arm — part of the body
  8. swing — in golf
  9. plane — an aircraft
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. band — a music group
  13. arm — part of the body
  14. band — a ring
  15. degree — temperature
  16. bat — the animal
  17. arm — a part of something
  18. degree — from a university
  19. plane — a tool
  20. present — a gift
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. present — the time now
  23. plane — in geometry
  24. present — there

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