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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. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  2. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  5. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  6. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  7. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. You don't need to ________________ round.
  11. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  12. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  13. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  14. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. We're almost out of ________________.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  20. David sat on the ________________.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — to cool the air
  2. swing — in golf
  3. row — a line
  4. fan — a supporter
  5. bank — for money
  6. bank — for money
  7. wound — an injury
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. degree — temperature
  10. pop — to visit
  11. swing — music
  12. pop — music
  13. row — to paddle
  14. wound — an injury
  15. cold — not warm
  16. cold — an illness
  17. pop — soda
  18. degree — from a university
  19. bank — of a river
  20. swing — to play on
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. fan — a supporter
  23. degree — an amount
  24. cold — the Cold War

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