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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: squash · chair · hand · degree · swing · saw · net · race

  1. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  4. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  5. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  6. David sat on the ________________.
  7. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  8. She's very handy with a ________________.
  9. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  10. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  11. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  12. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  13. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  14. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  15. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. He works in a ________________ mill.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  22. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  23. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  24. I'd like to play a game of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — music
  2. hand — help
  3. squash — to crush
  4. net — after costs
  5. hand — in cards
  6. swing — to play on
  7. swing — in golf
  8. saw — the tool
  9. race — the arms race
  10. race — a contest
  11. saw — past of 'see'
  12. chair — a leader
  13. chair — a professorship
  14. chair — to sit on
  15. net — in sport
  16. degree — an amount
  17. saw — the tool
  18. degree — temperature
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. degree — from a university
  21. net — for catching
  22. squash — the vegetable
  23. race — humankind
  24. squash — the sport

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