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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: board · wind · degree · stem · roll · swing · cold · kick

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  3. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  4. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  5. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  6. We're on a ________________ here.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  9. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  10. David sat on the ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  14. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  15. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  18. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  19. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  20. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  21. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  22. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  23. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. wind — to turn a key
  3. swing — music
  4. stem — a stem cell
  5. stem — to come from
  6. roll — on a roll
  7. cold — not warm
  8. wind — moving air
  9. swing — in golf
  10. swing — to play on
  11. cold — an illness
  12. degree — temperature
  13. stem — of a plant
  14. board — a committee
  15. board — a flat piece
  16. degree — from a university
  17. kick — in football
  18. roll — a list
  19. kick — with a leg
  20. board — to get on
  21. wind — moving air
  22. kick — a thrill
  23. roll — a cake
  24. cold — the Cold War

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