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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: fall · wind · chest · swing · degree · track · chair · plane

  1. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  2. David sat on the ________________.
  3. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  4. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  5. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  6. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  7. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  8. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. The ________________ took off on time.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. track — a path
  2. swing — to play on
  3. fall — to drop
  4. fall — the season
  5. plane — a tool
  6. chair — a leader
  7. chair — to sit on
  8. plane — in geometry
  9. chest — of your body
  10. degree — temperature
  11. track — to keep track
  12. degree — from a university
  13. plane — an aircraft
  14. chest — of your body
  15. track — a song
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. swing — in golf
  18. chest — a box
  19. chair — a professorship
  20. wind — moving air
  21. fall — to drop
  22. swing — music
  23. degree — an amount
  24. wind — moving air

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