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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 116 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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: cold · degree · swing · chair · tear · safe

  1. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  10. David sat on the ________________.
  11. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  12. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  17. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. safe — a strongbox
  2. cold — an illness
  3. cold — not warm
  4. chair — a leader
  5. tear — from crying
  6. tear — from crying
  7. chair — a professorship
  8. degree — an amount
  9. swing — music
  10. swing — to play on
  11. chair — to sit on
  12. safe — out of danger
  13. degree — from a university
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. tear — to rip
  16. safe — out of danger
  17. swing — in golf
  18. degree — temperature

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