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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: face · drill · last · degree · clip · rush · swing · coach

  1. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  4. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  5. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  6. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  7. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  8. David sat on the ________________.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  12. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  13. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  14. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  15. Have you met the new head ________________?
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  19. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. That must've been a ________________.
  22. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  23. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  24. False peace will not ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. coach — pulled by horses
  2. degree — an amount
  3. drill — the tool
  4. swing — in golf
  5. rush — to hurry
  6. drill — army training
  7. coach — a trainer
  8. swing — to play on
  9. clip — a video
  10. clip — to cut
  11. swing — music
  12. last — final
  13. rush — hurry
  14. face — part of the head
  15. coach — a trainer
  16. degree — from a university
  17. clip — for paper
  18. drill — a practice
  19. face — to point toward
  20. degree — temperature
  21. rush — a thrill
  22. face — to confront
  23. last — finally
  24. last — to go 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