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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 120 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. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  4. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  5. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  9. How do you ________________ your surname?
  10. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  11. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  12. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  13. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  14. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  18. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  23. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  24. The train ________________ at six o'clock.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. degree — from a university
  3. wax — to grow
  4. wax — in the ear
  5. spell — magic
  6. degree — an amount
  7. chest — of your body
  8. staff — a stick
  9. spell — letters
  10. staff — employees
  11. leaves — of a tree
  12. chip — to eat
  13. spell — a short time
  14. leaves — lets stay
  15. file — a tool
  16. file — a document
  17. wax — for sculpting
  18. chip — for betting
  19. degree — temperature
  20. chest — a box
  21. file — a line of people
  22. staff — employees
  23. chip — in a computer
  24. leaves — to go away

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