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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 120 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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Word bank
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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 · track · dip · swing · land · march · degree · row

  1. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  2. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  8. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  9. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  10. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  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. David sat on the ________________.
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  19. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  20. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  24. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. track — to keep track
  2. dip — to sink
  3. land — a country
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. track — a song
  6. row — a line
  7. row — a quarrel
  8. march — the month
  9. march — music
  10. dip — to dunk
  11. wind — moving air
  12. degree — from a university
  13. swing — to play on
  14. wind — moving air
  15. land — to come down
  16. row — to paddle
  17. land — ground
  18. swing — music
  19. swing — in golf
  20. track — a path
  21. degree — temperature
  22. degree — an amount
  23. dip — a sauce
  24. march — the month

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