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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. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  2. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  3. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  8. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  9. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  10. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  13. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  14. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  17. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  23. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  24. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — temperature
  2. fan — to cool the air
  3. content — videos and posts
  4. degree — from a university
  5. wax — to grow
  6. cold — an illness
  7. foot — a measure
  8. squash — the vegetable
  9. fan — a supporter
  10. fan — a supporter
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. squash — to crush
  13. foot — part of the body
  14. wax — for sculpting
  15. degree — an amount
  16. squash — the sport
  17. content — happy
  18. content — the amount
  19. cold — not warm
  20. wax — in the ear
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. straw — to clutch at straws
  23. straw — dry grass
  24. foot — the bottom

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