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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: fan · club · coach · cold · degree · rule · wound · tear

  1. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  2. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  5. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  8. Have you met the new head ________________?
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  12. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  15. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  16. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  24. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.

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

Answer key

  1. club — for golf
  2. wound — past of 'wind'
  3. degree — from a university
  4. club — a group
  5. coach — a trainer
  6. degree — temperature
  7. fan — a supporter
  8. coach — a trainer
  9. tear — to rip
  10. degree — an amount
  11. wound — an injury
  12. coach — pulled by horses
  13. wound — an injury
  14. rule — government
  15. rule — to rule out
  16. rule — a law
  17. cold — an illness
  18. club — for dancing
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. tear — from crying
  21. fan — to cool the air
  22. cold — not warm
  23. tear — from crying
  24. fan — a supporter

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