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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: bowl · row · spring · swing · squash · tube · stock · degree

  1. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  2. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  3. David sat on the ________________.
  4. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  5. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  6. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  7. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  12. I'll be taking the ________________.
  13. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  14. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  17. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  18. The ________________ market has crashed.
  19. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  20. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. swing — music
  3. swing — to play on
  4. squash — the vegetable
  5. bowl — a football final
  6. bowl — to roll
  7. squash — the sport
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. row — a line
  10. degree — from a university
  11. tube — in a tire
  12. tube — the underground
  13. swing — in golf
  14. stock — goods
  15. spring — of water
  16. tube — a container
  17. degree — an amount
  18. stock — shares
  19. stock — a soup base
  20. squash — to crush
  21. spring — a coil
  22. spring — the season
  23. row — to paddle
  24. degree — temperature

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