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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: season · arm · swing · degree · fall · sharp · cold · lie

  1. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. Did you ________________ the meat?
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  8. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  11. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  14. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  15. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  16. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  17. David sat on the ________________.
  18. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  19. My father caught me by the ________________.
  20. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  21. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  22. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  23. It's one o'clock ________________.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. lie — an untruth
  2. degree — an amount
  3. swing — music
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. season — to add flavour
  6. cold — not warm
  7. fall — the season
  8. fall — to drop
  9. degree — from a university
  10. season — of the year
  11. lie — to recline
  12. degree — temperature
  13. arm — a part of something
  14. sharp — with an edge
  15. lie — an untruth
  16. fall — to drop
  17. swing — to play on
  18. season — in sport
  19. arm — part of the body
  20. sharp — clever
  21. arm — part of the body
  22. swing — in golf
  23. sharp — exactly
  24. cold — an illness

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