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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  11. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  12. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  13. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  14. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  19. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. rest — what's left
  3. field — a subject
  4. degree — temperature
  5. kid — child
  6. vault — in gymnastics
  7. degree — an amount
  8. wax — in the ear
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. vault — an arched ceiling
  11. vault — a safe
  12. rest — what's left
  13. wax — to grow
  14. pitch — a sales talk
  15. field — for sport
  16. kid — to tease
  17. degree — from a university
  18. pitch — completely
  19. pitch — a sports field
  20. field — farmland
  21. rest — a break
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. wax — for sculpting
  24. cold — not warm

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