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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 120 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: squash · bark · fall · spring · degree · cold · drill · swing

  1. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  2. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  3. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  4. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  5. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  8. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  9. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  10. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  13. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. David sat on the ________________.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  21. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — a dog's sound
  2. squash — the sport
  3. swing — in golf
  4. swing — music
  5. squash — the vegetable
  6. degree — an amount
  7. fall — to drop
  8. drill — the tool
  9. bark — to shout
  10. drill — a practice
  11. degree — temperature
  12. fall — the season
  13. drill — army training
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. swing — to play on
  16. spring — the season
  17. degree — from a university
  18. cold — an illness
  19. spring — of water
  20. fall — to drop
  21. bark — of a tree
  22. cold — not warm
  23. squash — to crush
  24. spring — a coil

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