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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 116 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. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  3. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. The King held a masked ________________.
  6. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  9. Did you ________________ the meat?
  10. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  11. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  12. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  13. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  14. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  15. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  18. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  19. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  20. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  21. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  22. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. wax — in the ear
  3. season — in sport
  4. degree — from a university
  5. ball — a dance
  6. cell — in biology
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. chair — to sit on
  9. season — to add flavour
  10. ball — a round shape
  11. wax — to grow
  12. ruler — for measuring
  13. ruler — a monarch
  14. ball — a great time
  15. season — of the year
  16. degree — temperature
  17. chair — a professorship
  18. chair — a leader
  19. mine — for digging
  20. wax — for sculpting
  21. cell — a phone
  22. ruler — for measuring
  23. mine — an explosive
  24. cell — in a prison

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