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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. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  5. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  6. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  7. Have you met the new head ________________?
  8. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  11. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  15. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  16. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  17. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  18. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  19. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  22. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  23. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. wax — in the ear
  3. degree — from a university
  4. wax — for sculpting
  5. leaves — of a tree
  6. shower — a meteor shower
  7. coach — a trainer
  8. leaves — to go away
  9. bat — the animal
  10. shower — rain
  11. coach — pulled by horses
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. degree — temperature
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. drill — the tool
  16. rest — what's left
  17. wax — to grow
  18. rest — what's left
  19. drill — a practice
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. leaves — lets stay
  22. drill — army training
  23. rest — a break
  24. degree — an amount

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