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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 116 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.

Make a worksheet

Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

Words on the sheet
468
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: degree · rash · fan · cold · bark · perch · mug · swing

  1. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  2. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  5. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  6. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. David sat on the ________________.
  9. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  10. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  11. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  14. Where did you ________________ them?
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  17. Don't do anything ________________.
  18. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  19. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  20. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  23. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — the fish
  2. swing — music
  3. degree — from a university
  4. bark — to shout
  5. fan — a supporter
  6. mug — a face
  7. degree — an amount
  8. swing — to play on
  9. fan — a supporter
  10. bark — of a tree
  11. swing — in golf
  12. cold — not warm
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. mug — to rob
  15. degree — temperature
  16. bark — a dog's sound
  17. rash — hasty
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. rash — on the skin
  20. mug — a cup
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. fan — to cool the air
  23. rash — a series
  24. cold — an illness

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