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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. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  2. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  3. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  10. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  11. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  12. How do you ________________ your surname?
  13. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. This piece is in a major ________________.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  23. Have you found your soul ________________?
  24. There's a computer ________________ on the table.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — for sculpting
  2. spell — a short time
  3. spell — magic
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. mate — a friend
  6. chest — a box
  7. key — the most important part
  8. degree — an amount
  9. mate — to breed
  10. chip — for betting
  11. chip — to eat
  12. spell — letters
  13. wax — in the ear
  14. degree — from a university
  15. chest — of your body
  16. chest — of your body
  17. key — for a lock
  18. cold — an illness
  19. cold — not warm
  20. key — in music
  21. degree — temperature
  22. wax — to grow
  23. mate — a partner
  24. chip — in a computer

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