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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. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  2. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  3. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  4. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  5. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  6. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  7. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  8. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  9. When was this ________________ built?
  10. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  14. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  18. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  22. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. The moon will ________________ and wane.

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

Answer key

  1. root — of a word
  2. wax — in the ear
  3. file — a tool
  4. file — a document
  5. root — of a plant
  6. temple — a place of worship
  7. net — for catching
  8. temple — side of the head
  9. temple — a place of worship
  10. pit — a hole
  11. cold — not warm
  12. degree — an amount
  13. wax — for sculpting
  14. root — the cause
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. cold — an illness
  17. pit — in a race
  18. net — after costs
  19. degree — from a university
  20. file — a line of people
  21. net — in sport
  22. pit — a fruit stone
  23. degree — temperature
  24. wax — to grow

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