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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 soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  10. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  15. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  16. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  17. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  18. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  19. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  22. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  23. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. drill — army training
  2. degree — an amount
  3. snap — to speak sharply
  4. content — the amount
  5. content — happy
  6. spring — a coil
  7. fan — a supporter
  8. degree — from a university
  9. wax — in the ear
  10. fan — to cool the air
  11. spring — of water
  12. track — to keep track
  13. degree — temperature
  14. snap — to click
  15. track — a song
  16. drill — the tool
  17. fan — a supporter
  18. wax — to grow
  19. track — a path
  20. spring — the season
  21. snap — to snap out of it
  22. drill — a practice
  23. wax — for sculpting
  24. content — videos and posts

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