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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. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. He is an ace ________________.
  3. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  4. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  5. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. He was locked up in a ________________.
  11. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  14. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  15. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  16. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. pitcher — in baseball
  3. wax — in the ear
  4. bass — the fish
  5. bass — low music
  6. degree — temperature
  7. kid — to tease
  8. bass — the instrument
  9. land — ground
  10. cell — in a prison
  11. wax — to grow
  12. cell — a phone
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. safe — a strongbox
  16. safe — out of danger
  17. land — to come down
  18. safe — out of danger
  19. degree — from a university
  20. cell — in biology
  21. degree — an amount
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. land — a country
  24. wax — for sculpting

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