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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 found your soul ________________?
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  4. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  5. You don't need to ________________ round.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  8. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  9. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  12. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  13. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  14. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  15. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  16. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. We're almost out of ________________.
  23. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  24. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a partner
  2. degree — from a university
  3. current — happening now
  4. wax — in the ear
  5. pop — to visit
  6. degree — temperature
  7. mate — a friend
  8. hide — to keep secret
  9. mate — to breed
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. pop — music
  12. lean — thin
  13. lean — to rest against
  14. hide — animal skin
  15. wax — for sculpting
  16. hide — to keep secret
  17. cold — an illness
  18. wax — to grow
  19. degree — an amount
  20. lean — to bend
  21. cold — not warm
  22. pop — soda
  23. current — of water
  24. current — electric

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