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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 116 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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  2. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  11. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — to grow
  2. wind — moving air
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. pitch — completely
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. wind — moving air
  8. degree — from a university
  9. degree — an amount
  10. pitch — a sales talk
  11. wax — in the ear
  12. game — wild animals
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. game — a match
  15. degree — temperature
  16. pitch — a sports field
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. wax — for sculpting

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