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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. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  2. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  3. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  4. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  5. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  6. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  11. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  12. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  13. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  14. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  18. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  19. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  23. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — in the ear
  2. degree — temperature
  3. snap — to snap out of it
  4. fall — the season
  5. wax — for sculpting
  6. branch — a division
  7. field — farmland
  8. snap — to speak sharply
  9. hand — help
  10. branch — of a tree
  11. trunk — of a car
  12. fall — to drop
  13. branch — of a bank
  14. snap — to click
  15. field — for sport
  16. degree — from a university
  17. degree — an amount
  18. trunk — of a tree
  19. trunk — of an elephant
  20. field — a subject
  21. hand — in cards
  22. wax — to grow
  23. fall — to drop
  24. hand — part of the body

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