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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 moon will ________________ and wane.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  5. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  8. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  14. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  24. False peace will not ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — to grow
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. cold — not warm
  4. foot — the bottom
  5. last — finally
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. scale — in music
  8. foot — part of the body
  9. degree — temperature
  10. hand — in cards
  11. wax — in the ear
  12. hand — help
  13. last — final
  14. scale — for weighing
  15. degree — an amount
  16. wax — for sculpting
  17. cold — an illness
  18. scale — size or range
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. degree — from a university
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. bat — the animal
  23. foot — a measure
  24. last — to go on

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