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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 120 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. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  2. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  3. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  4. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  7. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  8. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  11. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  17. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  18. Don't do anything ________________.
  19. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  20. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  21. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  22. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.

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

Answer key

  1. current — happening now
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. wax — to grow
  4. wax — in the ear
  5. degree — temperature
  6. wax — for sculpting
  7. fan — a supporter
  8. current — electric
  9. clip — a video
  10. fan — to cool the air
  11. drill — the tool
  12. degree — an amount
  13. current — of water
  14. degree — from a university
  15. clip — to cut
  16. branch — of a bank
  17. drill — army training
  18. rash — hasty
  19. rash — on the skin
  20. branch — of a tree
  21. drill — a practice
  22. branch — a division
  23. clip — for paper
  24. rash — a series

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