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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. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  2. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  12. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  13. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  14. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  15. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  16. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  17. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  22. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  24. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — temperature
  2. wax — to grow
  3. degree — from a university
  4. straw — a straw man
  5. tear — from crying
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. cold — not warm
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. cold — an illness
  10. tear — from crying
  11. chair — a professorship
  12. chair — to sit on
  13. track — a song
  14. chair — a leader
  15. wax — for sculpting
  16. lash — to lash out
  17. lash — a whip stroke
  18. degree — an amount
  19. wax — in the ear
  20. tear — to rip
  21. lash — an eyelash
  22. track — to keep track
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  24. track — a path

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