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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. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  4. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  7. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  8. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  9. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  10. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. I'll be taking the ________________.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  17. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  18. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  19. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  22. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  23. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a football final
  2. degree — from a university
  3. squash — the sport
  4. wax — in the ear
  5. chest — of your body
  6. tube — in a tire
  7. squash — the vegetable
  8. wax — to grow
  9. tube — a container
  10. mark — a trace
  11. chest — of your body
  12. hand — in cards
  13. degree — temperature
  14. tube — the underground
  15. degree — an amount
  16. squash — to crush
  17. mark — to pay attention
  18. wax — for sculpting
  19. bowl — a dish
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. bowl — to roll
  22. mark — a grade
  23. hand — help
  24. chest — a box

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