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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 museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  6. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  7. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  8. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  9. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  13. He was locked up in a ________________.
  14. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  18. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  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. wax — for sculpting
  2. clip — a video
  3. wax — to grow
  4. shower — to wash
  5. cell — a phone
  6. board — a committee
  7. board — a flat piece
  8. mark — a trace
  9. shower — a meteor shower
  10. chest — of your body
  11. degree — temperature
  12. mark — a grade
  13. cell — in a prison
  14. cell — in biology
  15. clip — for paper
  16. degree — from a university
  17. board — to get on
  18. mark — to pay attention
  19. chest — a box
  20. clip — to cut
  21. degree — an amount
  22. wax — in the ear
  23. shower — rain
  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