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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. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  4. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  5. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  8. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  9. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  10. The ________________ market has crashed.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  14. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  15. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  16. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  17. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  18. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. row — a line
  3. stock — a soup base
  4. wax — for sculpting
  5. patient — a sick person
  6. degree — from a university
  7. patient — calm and waiting
  8. wax — to grow
  9. rule — government
  10. stock — shares
  11. spring — of water
  12. degree — an amount
  13. row — to paddle
  14. wax — in the ear
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. snap — to speak sharply
  17. row — a quarrel
  18. rule — to rule out
  19. degree — temperature
  20. snap — to snap out of it
  21. spring — a coil
  22. stock — goods
  23. spring — the season
  24. rule — a law

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