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

Word bank: swing · mine · degree · wind · cabinet · kid

  1. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  2. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  5. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  8. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. David sat on the ________________.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  18. What do you think of the new ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. mine — an explosive
  2. degree — temperature
  3. degree — from a university
  4. swing — music
  5. wind — moving air
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. swing — in golf
  8. wind — moving air
  9. mine — for digging
  10. swing — to play on
  11. kid — child
  12. kid — to tease
  13. cabinet — ministers
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. cabinet — a cupboard
  16. degree — an amount
  17. wind — to turn a key
  18. cabinet — ministers

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