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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 · degree · last · key · temple · swing · kick · firm

  1. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  5. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  6. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  7. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  8. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  11. False peace will not ________________.
  12. David sat on the ________________.
  13. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  14. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  17. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  18. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  19. When was this ________________ built?
  20. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. This piece is in a major ________________.
  24. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.

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

Answer key

  1. temple — a place of worship
  2. degree — from a university
  3. last — final
  4. kick — in football
  5. key — the most important part
  6. key — for a lock
  7. kick — a thrill
  8. swing — music
  9. wind — moving air
  10. swing — in golf
  11. last — to go on
  12. swing — to play on
  13. firm — steady
  14. firm — decided
  15. degree — an amount
  16. temple — side of the head
  17. firm — a company
  18. last — finally
  19. temple — a place of worship
  20. wind — to turn a key
  21. degree — temperature
  22. wind — moving air
  23. key — in music
  24. kick — with a leg

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