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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. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  2. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  3. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  4. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  5. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  6. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  18. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  19. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  20. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. wax — to grow
  3. wax — in the ear
  4. staff — employees
  5. vault — an arched ceiling
  6. vault — a safe
  7. clip — a video
  8. capital — a city
  9. clip — to cut
  10. vault — in gymnastics
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. degree — temperature
  13. shower — rain
  14. capital — money
  15. bass — low music
  16. clip — for paper
  17. wax — for sculpting
  18. shower — to wash
  19. bass — the fish
  20. staff — a stick
  21. degree — an amount
  22. bass — the instrument
  23. degree — from a university
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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