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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: club · game · prune · face · fall · rock · swing · degree

  1. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  4. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  5. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  6. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  7. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  10. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  11. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  14. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  15. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  16. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  17. David sat on the ________________.
  18. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  19. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  22. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. A ________________ is just a dried plum.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. degree — from a university
  3. face — part of the head
  4. fall — the season
  5. club — for golf
  6. fall — to drop
  7. prune — to trim
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. swing — music
  10. club — a group
  11. face — to point toward
  12. degree — temperature
  13. prune — to trim
  14. fall — to drop
  15. rock — music
  16. club — for dancing
  17. swing — to play on
  18. swing — in golf
  19. game — wild animals
  20. game — a match
  21. rock — a stone
  22. rock — to move gently
  23. degree — an amount
  24. prune — the fruit

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