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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. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  4. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  5. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  14. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  15. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  16. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  20. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  21. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  22. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  23. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  24. The elephant has a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — temperature
  2. degree — an amount
  3. fork — to eat with
  4. pit — a fruit stone
  5. wax — in the ear
  6. degree — from a university
  7. wax — for sculpting
  8. game — a match
  9. game — a kind of play
  10. land — to come down
  11. fork — in a road
  12. file — a tool
  13. game — wild animals
  14. land — a country
  15. pit — in a race
  16. trunk — of a car
  17. file — a document
  18. file — a line of people
  19. pit — a hole
  20. trunk — of a tree
  21. wax — to grow
  22. land — ground
  23. fork — a garden tool
  24. trunk — of an elephant

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