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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. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  2. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  3. Have you settled on a ________________?
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  6. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  9. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  10. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  13. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  14. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  17. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  18. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  21. That was a fun ________________.
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — in the ear
  2. pass — a permit
  3. date — on the calendar
  4. degree — from a university
  5. pass — to succeed
  6. net — in sport
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. game — wild animals
  9. date — the fruit
  10. wax — to grow
  11. degree — an amount
  12. date — on the calendar
  13. race — the arms race
  14. wax — for sculpting
  15. degree — temperature
  16. race — a contest
  17. net — for catching
  18. pass — to spend time
  19. bat — the animal
  20. net — after costs
  21. game — a match
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. race — humankind

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