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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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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 · stem · spring · swing · degree · dip · hand · fork

  1. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  5. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  8. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. David sat on the ________________.
  11. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  12. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  17. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  18. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — music
  2. spring — of water
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. dip — to sink
  5. dip — a sauce
  6. cold — an illness
  7. stem — of a plant
  8. fork — to eat with
  9. spring — the season
  10. swing — to play on
  11. stem — to come from
  12. dip — to dunk
  13. degree — an amount
  14. degree — temperature
  15. cold — not warm
  16. hand — help
  17. fork — a garden tool
  18. stem — a stem cell
  19. degree — from a university
  20. hand — in cards
  21. spring — a coil
  22. fork — in a road
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. swing — in golf

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