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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. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  2. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  7. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  8. David sat on the ________________.
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  11. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  12. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  13. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  16. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  19. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. There's no middle ________________.
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — crushed
  2. wax — in the ear
  3. degree — from a university
  4. row — to paddle
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. scale — for weighing
  7. scale — in music
  8. swing — to play on
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. row — a line
  11. wax — to grow
  12. fan — to cool the air
  13. swing — in golf
  14. degree — an amount
  15. fan — a supporter
  16. scale — size or range
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. ground — the earth
  19. wax — for sculpting
  20. degree — temperature
  21. ground — a position
  22. swing — music
  23. fan — a supporter
  24. straw — dry grass

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