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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: wind · perch · capital · swing · kick · degree · mouse · spell

  1. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  2. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  3. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  4. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  5. How do you ________________ your surname?
  6. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  7. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  8. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  18. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. David sat on the ________________.
  23. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  24. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — the fish
  2. kick — in football
  3. swing — music
  4. mouse — the animal
  5. spell — letters
  6. kick — a thrill
  7. mouse — for a computer
  8. kick — with a leg
  9. wind — moving air
  10. capital — a city
  11. wind — moving air
  12. degree — from a university
  13. swing — in golf
  14. degree — temperature
  15. mouse — the animal
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. spell — magic
  18. spell — a short time
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. degree — an amount
  21. capital — money
  22. swing — to play on
  23. perch — for a bird
  24. perch — for a bird

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