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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. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  3. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  4. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  5. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  6. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  9. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  10. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  11. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  12. Did you ________________ the button?
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  15. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  16. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  17. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  18. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  19. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. This piece is in a major ________________.
  22. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  23. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  24. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. wax — to grow
  3. key — for a lock
  4. net — in sport
  5. content — the amount
  6. key — the most important part
  7. degree — from a university
  8. wax — for sculpting
  9. net — after costs
  10. chair — a professorship
  11. chair — a leader
  12. press — to push
  13. degree — temperature
  14. net — for catching
  15. press — newspapers
  16. fan — a supporter
  17. fan — a supporter
  18. fan — to cool the air
  19. wax — in the ear
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. key — in music
  22. content — happy
  23. chair — to sit on
  24. press — a publisher

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