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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 flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  6. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  7. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  8. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  9. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  12. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  13. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  14. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  20. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. degree — temperature
  2. spring — the season
  3. spring — of water
  4. kid — to tease
  5. lash — a whip stroke
  6. object — to protest
  7. lean — to bend
  8. lash — to lash out
  9. wax — in the ear
  10. degree — from a university
  11. lean — thin
  12. spring — a coil
  13. lash — an eyelash
  14. wax — for sculpting
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. kid — child
  17. object — an aim
  18. clip — to cut
  19. lean — to rest against
  20. wax — to grow
  21. clip — for paper
  22. object — a thing
  23. clip — a video
  24. degree — an amount

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