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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. David sat on the ________________.
  2. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  3. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  4. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  5. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  11. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  17. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  21. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  22. This piece is in a major ________________.
  23. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — to play on
  2. wax — to grow
  3. key — the most important part
  4. wax — in the ear
  5. straw — a straw man
  6. clip — to cut
  7. clip — for paper
  8. degree — from a university
  9. game — wild animals
  10. wax — for sculpting
  11. bank — for money
  12. game — a match
  13. clip — a video
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. degree — an amount
  16. swing — music
  17. bank — of a river
  18. game — a kind of play
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. bank — for money
  21. swing — in golf
  22. key — in music
  23. key — for a lock
  24. degree — temperature

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