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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  4. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  7. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  8. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  9. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. David sat on the ________________.
  12. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  13. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  14. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  17. That was a fun ________________.
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  20. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  21. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  22. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  23. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  24. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.

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

Answer key

  1. track — a song
  2. degree — an amount
  3. wax — for sculpting
  4. row — to paddle
  5. degree — temperature
  6. track — to keep track
  7. lie — to recline
  8. swing — music
  9. row — a quarrel
  10. degree — from a university
  11. swing — to play on
  12. wax — in the ear
  13. lie — an untruth
  14. band — a rubber band
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. swing — in golf
  17. game — a match
  18. game — wild animals
  19. track — a path
  20. band — a ring
  21. lie — an untruth
  22. wax — to grow
  23. band — a music group
  24. row — a line

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