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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: hide · degree · rock · land · coach · swing · tear · band

  1. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  4. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. Have you met the new head ________________?
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  10. David sat on the ________________.
  11. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  16. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  17. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  18. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  21. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  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. hide — to keep secret
  2. degree — an amount
  3. band — a music group
  4. rock — music
  5. degree — temperature
  6. coach — a trainer
  7. degree — from a university
  8. land — ground
  9. hide — to keep secret
  10. swing — to play on
  11. band — a ring
  12. tear — from crying
  13. tear — from crying
  14. tear — to rip
  15. band — a rubber band
  16. hide — animal skin
  17. rock — a stone
  18. swing — in golf
  19. land — to come down
  20. rock — to move gently
  21. coach — a trainer
  22. land — a country
  23. coach — pulled by horses
  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