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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. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  3. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. Have you settled on a ________________?
  7. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  10. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  11. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  16. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  17. The tickets are free of ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  20. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  21. It's one o'clock ________________.
  22. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  23. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  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. wax — to grow
  2. date — the fruit
  3. sharp — clever
  4. degree — an amount
  5. shower — to wash
  6. date — on the calendar
  7. shower — rain
  8. cold — an illness
  9. wax — in the ear
  10. charge — in control
  11. chair — a leader
  12. degree — from a university
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. charge — electricity
  16. sharp — with an edge
  17. charge — a price
  18. cold — not warm
  19. chair — a professorship
  20. chair — to sit on
  21. sharp — exactly
  22. date — on the calendar
  23. wax — for sculpting
  24. degree — temperature

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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