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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  4. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  7. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  8. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  9. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  10. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  11. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  12. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  13. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  14. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  17. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  20. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  23. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  24. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. net — after costs
  3. degree — temperature
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. cold — not warm
  6. jam — a tight spot
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. club — for dancing
  9. perch — the fish
  10. jam — in traffic
  11. jam — to spread on bread
  12. lash — an eyelash
  13. wax — for sculpting
  14. lash — to lash out
  15. degree — from a university
  16. lash — a whip stroke
  17. net — in sport
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. net — for catching
  20. wax — to grow
  21. cold — an illness
  22. wax — in the ear
  23. club — a group
  24. club — for golf

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