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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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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: cold · track · arm · degree · game · row · swing · perch

  1. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  6. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  9. David sat on the ________________.
  10. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  14. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  15. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  22. My father caught me by the ________________.
  23. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  24. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. row — to paddle
  4. game — a match
  5. track — to keep track
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. degree — an amount
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. swing — to play on
  10. perch — the fish
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. arm — a part of something
  14. track — a path
  15. swing — in golf
  16. degree — from a university
  17. cold — not warm
  18. degree — temperature
  19. track — a song
  20. cold — an illness
  21. row — a line
  22. arm — part of the body
  23. arm — part of the body
  24. swing — music

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