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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: swing · field · straw · last · kid · plane · degree · cabinet

  1. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. What do you think of the new ________________?
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  10. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. The ________________ took off on time.
  15. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  16. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  19. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  20. False peace will not ________________.
  21. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  22. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. David sat on the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. field — for sport
  3. cabinet — ministers
  4. field — farmland
  5. swing — in golf
  6. field — a subject
  7. cabinet — a cupboard
  8. kid — to tease
  9. straw — a straw man
  10. straw — dry grass
  11. degree — from a university
  12. degree — an amount
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. plane — an aircraft
  15. cabinet — ministers
  16. plane — in geometry
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. last — final
  19. last — finally
  20. last — to go on
  21. swing — music
  22. plane — a tool
  23. degree — temperature
  24. swing — to play on

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