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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. Have you settled on a ________________?
  2. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  6. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  7. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  8. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  9. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  10. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  11. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  12. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  13. He is an ace ________________.
  14. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  15. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  24. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. date — on the calendar
  2. race — the arms race
  3. chest — of your body
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. wax — for sculpting
  6. date — the fruit
  7. race — humankind
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. wax — to grow
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. wax — in the ear
  12. wave — a sudden rise
  13. pitcher — in baseball
  14. race — a contest
  15. wave — of the sea
  16. degree — an amount
  17. degree — temperature
  18. degree — from a university
  19. bat — the animal
  20. chest — a box
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. wave — with your hand
  23. chest — of your body
  24. date — on the calendar

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