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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. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  2. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  3. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  6. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  11. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. False peace will not ________________.
  14. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  15. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  16. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  17. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  18. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  19. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  20. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  23. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  24. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.

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

Answer key

  1. track — a song
  2. last — finally
  3. race — humankind
  4. degree — an amount
  5. race — the arms race
  6. can — a tin
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. can — to be able to
  9. degree — temperature
  10. mine — for digging
  11. last — final
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. last — to go on
  14. can — a tin
  15. race — a contest
  16. track — to keep track
  17. track — a path
  18. band — a music group
  19. band — a ring
  20. wax — to grow
  21. degree — from a university
  22. wax — in the ear
  23. wax — for sculpting
  24. band — a rubber band

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