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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. The ________________ took off on time.
  2. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  5. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  16. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  20. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  21. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  22. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  24. Biology is a ________________ of science.

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

Answer key

  1. plane — an aircraft
  2. plane — in geometry
  3. chest — of your body
  4. fall — to drop
  5. wax — for sculpting
  6. degree — from a university
  7. wax — in the ear
  8. degree — an amount
  9. wake — a trail
  10. hand — help
  11. wake — to stop sleeping
  12. hand — in cards
  13. branch — of a tree
  14. chest — a box
  15. fall — to drop
  16. fall — the season
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. degree — temperature
  19. branch — of a bank
  20. wax — to grow
  21. wake — before a funeral
  22. plane — a tool
  23. chest — of your body
  24. branch — a division

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