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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. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  2. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  7. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  8. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  12. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  16. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  17. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  18. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  19. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  20. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  21. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  22. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — temperature
  2. trunk — of an elephant
  3. land — to come down
  4. degree — from a university
  5. clip — to cut
  6. pound — a weight
  7. face — to confront
  8. lie — an untruth
  9. degree — an amount
  10. clip — for paper
  11. lie — to recline
  12. wax — in the ear
  13. clip — a video
  14. land — ground
  15. face — part of the head
  16. pound — to hit hard
  17. wax — for sculpting
  18. wax — to grow
  19. face — to point toward
  20. trunk — of a car
  21. lie — an untruth
  22. trunk — of a tree
  23. land — a country
  24. pound — for dogs

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