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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  5. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  6. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  10. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  11. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  12. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  13. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  16. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  17. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  22. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. wax — for sculpting
  3. clip — for paper
  4. branch — of a tree
  5. branch — a division
  6. content — the amount
  7. clip — a video
  8. hand — in cards
  9. wax — to grow
  10. hide — to keep secret
  11. hide — to keep secret
  12. content — happy
  13. content — videos and posts
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. trunk — of an elephant
  16. trunk — of a car
  17. trunk — of a tree
  18. clip — to cut
  19. hand — help
  20. degree — from a university
  21. branch — of a bank
  22. hide — animal skin
  23. degree — temperature
  24. wax — in the ear

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