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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 strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  2. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  3. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  7. Don't do anything ________________.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  10. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  11. The ________________ market has crashed.
  12. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  13. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  17. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  22. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. wind — moving air
  3. stock — goods
  4. tear — from crying
  5. spring — the season
  6. rash — on the skin
  7. rash — hasty
  8. spring — of water
  9. wax — to grow
  10. stock — a soup base
  11. stock — shares
  12. rash — a series
  13. fall — to drop
  14. degree — from a university
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. wax — in the ear
  17. wax — for sculpting
  18. degree — an amount
  19. fall — the season
  20. degree — temperature
  21. fall — to drop
  22. tear — to rip
  23. spring — a coil
  24. tear — from crying

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