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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. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  3. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  6. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  7. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  10. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  11. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  12. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  13. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  18. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  21. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  22. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. cap — a lid
  3. wake — to stop sleeping
  4. degree — from a university
  5. fall — to drop
  6. wax — for sculpting
  7. cap — a hat
  8. field — farmland
  9. wax — in the ear
  10. band — a music group
  11. band — a ring
  12. wake — before a funeral
  13. wake — a trail
  14. degree — an amount
  15. wax — to grow
  16. chest — a box
  17. band — a rubber band
  18. fall — the season
  19. field — a subject
  20. cap — of ice
  21. chest — of your body
  22. fall — to drop
  23. degree — temperature
  24. chest — of your body

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