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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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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: swing · kid · wound · rest · coach · degree · cold · fine

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  3. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  4. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  9. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  10. Have you met the new head ________________?
  11. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. David sat on the ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. I assure you, everything's ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. fine — a penalty
  3. rest — what's left
  4. coach — pulled by horses
  5. degree — temperature
  6. wound — an injury
  7. kid — to tease
  8. wound — an injury
  9. rest — what's left
  10. coach — a trainer
  11. swing — music
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. degree — from a university
  14. fine — high quality
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. swing — in golf
  17. cold — an illness
  18. rest — a break
  19. kid — child
  20. coach — a trainer
  21. degree — an amount
  22. swing — to play on
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. fine — all right

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