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

  1. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  7. I'll be taking the ________________.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  10. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  11. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. It's one o'clock ________________.
  17. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  18. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  23. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  24. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. wax — for sculpting
  2. chest — of your body
  3. mouse — for a computer
  4. capital — money
  5. degree — temperature
  6. wax — to grow
  7. tube — the underground
  8. degree — an amount
  9. sharp — clever
  10. sharp — with an edge
  11. net — in sport
  12. degree — from a university
  13. chest — of your body
  14. net — after costs
  15. capital — a city
  16. sharp — exactly
  17. net — for catching
  18. tube — in a tire
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. mouse — the animal
  21. chest — a box
  22. tube — a container
  23. mouse — the animal
  24. wax — in the ear

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