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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 116 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. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  2. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  3. He is an ace ________________.
  4. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  5. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  6. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  7. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  8. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  9. That was ________________ to happen.
  10. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  18. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  21. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  22. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — to grow
  2. bound — tied together
  3. pitcher — in baseball
  4. track — to keep track
  5. row — a line
  6. wave — a sudden rise
  7. row — a quarrel
  8. wave — of the sea
  9. bound — certain
  10. wax — for sculpting
  11. degree — temperature
  12. bound — obliged
  13. cold — not warm
  14. degree — from a university
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. degree — an amount
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. row — to paddle
  20. wax — in the ear
  21. track — a song
  22. track — a path
  23. cold — an illness
  24. wave — with your hand

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