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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. What do you think of the new ________________?
  2. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  3. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  4. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  8. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  9. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  19. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  22. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  23. The ball is in your ________________.
  24. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.

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

Answer key

  1. cabinet — ministers
  2. kick — a thrill
  3. drill — the tool
  4. wax — in the ear
  5. court — of law
  6. hand — help
  7. straw — to clutch at straws
  8. straw — dry grass
  9. wax — to grow
  10. degree — temperature
  11. cabinet — a cupboard
  12. hand — in cards
  13. court — of a king
  14. drill — a practice
  15. degree — an amount
  16. wax — for sculpting
  17. degree — from a university
  18. drill — army training
  19. kick — with a leg
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. kick — in football
  22. cabinet — ministers
  23. court — for sport
  24. straw — a straw man

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