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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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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: lash · date · wind · spring · rule · degree · swing · row

  1. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  5. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  10. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  11. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  12. David sat on the ________________.
  13. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  14. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. Have you settled on a ________________?
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. lash — to lash out
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. row — to paddle
  5. swing — in golf
  6. spring — a coil
  7. rule — to rule out
  8. row — a line
  9. rule — government
  10. lash — a whip stroke
  11. wind — moving air
  12. swing — to play on
  13. date — on the calendar
  14. rule — a law
  15. spring — of water
  16. degree — from a university
  17. lash — an eyelash
  18. degree — temperature
  19. spring — the season
  20. degree — an amount
  21. date — on the calendar
  22. swing — music
  23. wind — moving air
  24. date — the fruit

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