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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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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: swing · rest · mate · degree · cell · present

  1. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  2. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. Have you found your soul ________________?
  4. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  5. He was locked up in a ________________.
  6. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  12. David sat on the ________________.
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  15. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  16. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  17. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  18. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?

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

Answer key

  1. rest — a break
  2. cell — a phone
  3. mate — a partner
  4. mate — a friend
  5. cell — in a prison
  6. rest — what's left
  7. degree — an amount
  8. degree — from a university
  9. swing — in golf
  10. degree — temperature
  11. rest — what's left
  12. swing — to play on
  13. cell — in biology
  14. present — there
  15. present — the time now
  16. swing — music
  17. mate — to breed
  18. present — a gift

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