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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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  4. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  5. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  6. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  7. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  8. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  9. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  10. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  11. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  17. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  18. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  19. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  20. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  21. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  24. The moon will ________________ and wane.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. prune — to trim
  3. prune — to trim
  4. race — a contest
  5. face — to point toward
  6. wax — for sculpting
  7. fan — to cool the air
  8. fan — a supporter
  9. game — a kind of play
  10. face — to confront
  11. face — part of the head
  12. degree — temperature
  13. degree — an amount
  14. craft — a handicraft
  15. game — a match
  16. race — humankind
  17. wax — in the ear
  18. craft — boats
  19. fan — a supporter
  20. race — the arms race
  21. craft — a skill
  22. game — wild animals
  23. prune — the fruit
  24. wax — to grow

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