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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.

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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.

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: wind · land · degree · game · spring · swing · chair · wake

  1. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  11. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. When are we going to ________________?
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. David sat on the ________________.
  19. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  20. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. degree — from a university
  3. spring — a coil
  4. wake — a trail
  5. degree — an amount
  6. wind — moving air
  7. game — wild animals
  8. wake — before a funeral
  9. wind — moving air
  10. swing — in golf
  11. chair — a professorship
  12. game — a match
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. land — to come down
  15. land — a country
  16. spring — of water
  17. land — ground
  18. swing — to play on
  19. chair — a leader
  20. wake — to stop sleeping
  21. spring — the season
  22. swing — music
  23. degree — temperature
  24. wind — to turn a key

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