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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. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  2. He was locked up in a ________________.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  5. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  6. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  7. It's one o'clock ________________.
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  19. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  20. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  21. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  24. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. band — a music group
  2. cell — in a prison
  3. mine — for digging
  4. sharp — with an edge
  5. band — a ring
  6. sharp — clever
  7. sharp — exactly
  8. cell — a phone
  9. spring — of water
  10. degree — from a university
  11. cell — in biology
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. wax — to grow
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. degree — an amount
  16. lie — an untruth
  17. degree — temperature
  18. spring — the season
  19. lie — to recline
  20. lie — an untruth
  21. band — a rubber band
  22. spring — a coil
  23. wax — for sculpting
  24. wax — in the ear

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