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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: chest · last · swing · land · bay · degree · cap · row

  1. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  2. My mare is ________________ in color.
  3. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. David sat on the ________________.
  11. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  12. False peace will not ________________.
  13. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  14. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  17. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  18. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  23. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  24. I had a ________________ with my boss today.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — temperature
  2. bay — a horse colour
  3. last — finally
  4. degree — from a university
  5. land — a country
  6. cap — a lid
  7. land — ground
  8. swing — music
  9. chest — of your body
  10. swing — to play on
  11. cap — of ice
  12. last — to go on
  13. cap — a hat
  14. chest — of your body
  15. degree — an amount
  16. row — a line
  17. last — final
  18. bay — a part of the sea
  19. land — to come down
  20. row — to paddle
  21. chest — a box
  22. swing — in golf
  23. bay — to keep at bay
  24. row — a quarrel

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