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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 116 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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  5. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  6. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  7. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  8. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. I'll be taking the ________________.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  18. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  19. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  23. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  24. A black ________________ roamed the forest.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. drill — army training
  3. degree — from a university
  4. tube — a container
  5. wax — in the ear
  6. trunk — of a tree
  7. wax — for sculpting
  8. wax — to grow
  9. tear — to rip
  10. drill — the tool
  11. degree — temperature
  12. tube — the underground
  13. tear — from crying
  14. tear — from crying
  15. trunk — of an elephant
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. tube — in a tire
  18. drill — a practice
  19. trunk — of a car
  20. cold — an illness
  21. cold — not warm
  22. bear — the animal
  23. bear — to put up with
  24. bear — the animal

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