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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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  3. Have you found your soul ________________?
  4. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  5. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  13. There's no middle ________________.
  14. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  17. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  20. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  21. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  22. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  23. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  24. What was your ________________ profit last year?

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. net — for catching
  3. mate — a partner
  4. straw — a straw man
  5. ground — crushed
  6. land — a country
  7. land — to come down
  8. wax — to grow
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. degree — temperature
  11. land — ground
  12. ground — the earth
  13. ground — a position
  14. mate — to breed
  15. degree — an amount
  16. mate — a friend
  17. wax — for sculpting
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. snap — to speak sharply
  20. snap — to click
  21. net — in sport
  22. snap — to snap out of it
  23. wax — in the ear
  24. net — after costs

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