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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: mate · fan · tube · swing · cold · rest · arm · degree

  1. Have you found your soul ________________?
  2. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  3. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  6. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. I'll be taking the ________________.
  9. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  12. David sat on the ________________.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. My father caught me by the ________________.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  17. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  18. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  19. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  20. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  21. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  24. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a partner
  2. mate — a friend
  3. swing — in golf
  4. cold — not warm
  5. fan — to cool the air
  6. rest — what's left
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. tube — the underground
  9. tube — a container
  10. cold — an illness
  11. arm — part of the body
  12. swing — to play on
  13. degree — from a university
  14. arm — part of the body
  15. degree — temperature
  16. rest — what's left
  17. degree — an amount
  18. rest — a break
  19. tube — in a tire
  20. mate — to breed
  21. arm — a part of something
  22. swing — music
  23. fan — a supporter
  24. fan — a supporter

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