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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. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  6. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  9. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  14. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  20. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  21. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  22. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  23. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  24. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. face — to point toward
  3. spring — a coil
  4. chest — of your body
  5. dip — to dunk
  6. wax — in the ear
  7. degree — temperature
  8. wax — to grow
  9. dip — a sauce
  10. degree — an amount
  11. club — for golf
  12. spring — the season
  13. wave — with your hand
  14. dip — to sink
  15. degree — from a university
  16. club — for dancing
  17. chest — of your body
  18. chest — a box
  19. wax — for sculpting
  20. club — a group
  21. wave — a sudden rise
  22. wave — of the sea
  23. face — part of the head
  24. face — to confront

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