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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 museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. The King held a masked ________________.
  5. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  6. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  7. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. When are we going to ________________?
  15. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  20. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  21. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  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. degree — temperature
  2. wax — for sculpting
  3. degree — from a university
  4. ball — a dance
  5. ball — a round shape
  6. bear — the animal
  7. bear — the animal
  8. land — a country
  9. bat — the animal
  10. wax — to grow
  11. land — ground
  12. ball — a great time
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. land — to come down
  15. snap — to click
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. snap — to snap out of it
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. bear — to put up with
  20. wax — in the ear
  21. snap — to speak sharply
  22. shower — to wash
  23. shower — rain
  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