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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. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  3. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  4. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. He works in a ________________ mill.
  7. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  8. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  11. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  12. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  13. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  14. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  15. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. She's very handy with a ________________.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  19. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. There's no middle ________________.
  22. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  23. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  24. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. firm — a company
  3. wax — to grow
  4. rule — to rule out
  5. degree — from a university
  6. saw — the tool
  7. wax — in the ear
  8. face — to confront
  9. chest — of your body
  10. face — to point toward
  11. rule — a law
  12. rule — government
  13. wax — for sculpting
  14. ground — crushed
  15. face — part of the head
  16. degree — temperature
  17. saw — the tool
  18. chest — of your body
  19. firm — steady
  20. chest — a box
  21. ground — a position
  22. ground — the earth
  23. firm — decided
  24. saw — past of 'see'

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