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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. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  5. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  6. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  11. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  12. When will it ________________ you to start?
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  20. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  23. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. field — for sport
  3. mine — belonging to me
  4. shower — rain
  5. wax — in the ear
  6. wax — to grow
  7. cold — an illness
  8. field — a subject
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. mine — for digging
  11. fan — a supporter
  12. suit — to fit
  13. degree — temperature
  14. degree — from a university
  15. wax — for sculpting
  16. field — farmland
  17. degree — an amount
  18. cold — not warm
  19. suit — in cards
  20. fan — a supporter
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. suit — clothes
  23. fan — to cool the air
  24. mine — an explosive

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