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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. There's no middle ________________.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  7. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  8. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  9. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  10. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  15. Did you ________________ the meat?
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  20. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  21. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. The ball is in your ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — for sculpting
  2. ground — a position
  3. shower — to wash
  4. season — of the year
  5. degree — from a university
  6. ground — crushed
  7. wax — in the ear
  8. vault — a safe
  9. season — in sport
  10. shower — rain
  11. clip — for paper
  12. degree — temperature
  13. court — of law
  14. vault — an arched ceiling
  15. season — to add flavour
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. ground — the earth
  18. clip — a video
  19. court — of a king
  20. vault — in gymnastics
  21. wax — to grow
  22. degree — an amount
  23. clip — to cut
  24. court — for sport

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