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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. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  3. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  11. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  12. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  13. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  14. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  15. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  21. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  22. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. craft — a skill
  3. wax — in the ear
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. wax — for sculpting
  6. degree — an amount
  7. land — to come down
  8. rest — what's left
  9. game — a match
  10. race — humankind
  11. craft — boats
  12. rest — a break
  13. wax — to grow
  14. rest — what's left
  15. craft — a handicraft
  16. degree — temperature
  17. race — a contest
  18. patient — a sick person
  19. degree — from a university
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. patient — calm and waiting
  22. race — the arms race
  23. game — wild animals
  24. land — ground

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