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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: cold · ground · wound · degree · cabinet · swing · wave · mine

  1. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. There's no middle ________________.
  6. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  7. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. What do you think of the new ________________?
  11. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  14. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  15. David sat on the ________________.
  16. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  17. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  21. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — in golf
  2. degree — an amount
  3. wound — an injury
  4. degree — from a university
  5. ground — a position
  6. wound — past of 'wind'
  7. wave — with your hand
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. mine — for digging
  10. cabinet — ministers
  11. wound — an injury
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. wave — of the sea
  14. swing — music
  15. swing — to play on
  16. wave — a sudden rise
  17. ground — the earth
  18. cold — an illness
  19. degree — temperature
  20. ground — crushed
  21. cabinet — ministers
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. cabinet — a cupboard
  24. cold — not warm

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