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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. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  2. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  3. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. Don't do anything ________________.
  6. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  7. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  8. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  9. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. The ball is in your ________________.
  12. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  13. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  14. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  15. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  20. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  21. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  22. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  23. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  24. She had a strange look on her ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — in the ear
  2. rock — music
  3. snap — to snap out of it
  4. degree — an amount
  5. rash — hasty
  6. scale — size or range
  7. snap — to click
  8. rash — a series
  9. court — of law
  10. degree — from a university
  11. court — for sport
  12. scale — for weighing
  13. rock — a stone
  14. scale — in music
  15. wax — for sculpting
  16. degree — temperature
  17. rock — to move gently
  18. court — of a king
  19. rash — on the skin
  20. snap — to speak sharply
  21. wax — to grow
  22. face — to point toward
  23. face — to confront
  24. face — part of the head

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