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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 · degree · swing · plane · coach · kid · snap · game

  1. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  2. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. Did you ________________ the meat?
  6. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  7. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  11. David sat on the ________________.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. Have you met the new head ________________?
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  17. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  20. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  21. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  22. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  23. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  24. The ________________ took off on time.

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

Answer key

  1. season — of the year
  2. coach — pulled by horses
  3. game — a match
  4. degree — an amount
  5. season — to add flavour
  6. swing — music
  7. snap — to speak sharply
  8. degree — from a university
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. kid — child
  11. swing — to play on
  12. degree — temperature
  13. kid — to tease
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. coach — a trainer
  17. season — in sport
  18. game — wild animals
  19. snap — to click
  20. plane — a tool
  21. snap — to snap out of it
  22. swing — in golf
  23. plane — in geometry
  24. plane — an aircraft

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