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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. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  2. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  3. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  4. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  5. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  6. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  9. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  10. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  21. Did you ________________ the button?
  22. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.

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

Answer key

  1. vault — a safe
  2. wax — for sculpting
  3. wax — to grow
  4. press — a publisher
  5. stick — to attach or keep to
  6. vault — an arched ceiling
  7. degree — from a university
  8. wave — of the sea
  9. wave — with your hand
  10. stick — a piece of wood
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. cold — an illness
  13. wax — in the ear
  14. cold — not warm
  15. shower — rain
  16. wave — a sudden rise
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. press — newspapers
  19. degree — an amount
  20. shower — to wash
  21. press — to push
  22. stick — a piece of wood
  23. degree — temperature
  24. vault — in gymnastics

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