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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 120 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. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  9. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  10. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  11. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  12. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. I'll be taking the ________________.
  15. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  16. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  17. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  20. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  21. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  24. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. hand — help
  3. fine — high quality
  4. degree — an amount
  5. wind — moving air
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. wound — an injury
  8. wound — past of 'wind'
  9. fine — all right
  10. wax — for sculpting
  11. face — to confront
  12. fine — a penalty
  13. degree — temperature
  14. tube — the underground
  15. face — to point toward
  16. face — part of the head
  17. tube — in a tire
  18. degree — from a university
  19. wind — moving air
  20. wax — to grow
  21. wax — in the ear
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. hand — in cards
  24. tube — a container

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