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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 · swing · date · degree · kick · ground · fan · kid

  1. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  2. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  4. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  7. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  8. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. Have you settled on a ________________?
  11. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  16. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  17. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  18. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  19. David sat on the ________________.
  20. There's no middle ________________.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  24. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.

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

Answer key

  1. date — the fruit
  2. ground — crushed
  3. kick — with a leg
  4. fan — to cool the air
  5. kid — child
  6. fan — a supporter
  7. date — on the calendar
  8. swing — in golf
  9. kid — to tease
  10. date — on the calendar
  11. kick — in football
  12. degree — from a university
  13. face — part of the head
  14. degree — an amount
  15. fan — a supporter
  16. face — to confront
  17. face — to point toward
  18. ground — the earth
  19. swing — to play on
  20. ground — a position
  21. degree — temperature
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. swing — music
  24. kick — a thrill

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