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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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  3. That was ________________ to happen.
  4. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  5. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  6. Have you met the new head ________________?
  7. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  8. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  9. Don't do anything ________________.
  10. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  16. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  17. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  18. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. David sat on the ________________.
  21. That must've been a ________________.
  22. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  23. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  24. You shouldn't ________________ things.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. rush — hurry
  3. bound — certain
  4. wax — to grow
  5. bound — tied together
  6. coach — a trainer
  7. rash — a series
  8. wax — in the ear
  9. rash — hasty
  10. wax — for sculpting
  11. field — for sport
  12. degree — temperature
  13. swing — in golf
  14. field — a subject
  15. bound — obliged
  16. swing — music
  17. degree — an amount
  18. coach — pulled by horses
  19. field — farmland
  20. swing — to play on
  21. rush — a thrill
  22. coach — a trainer
  23. rash — on the skin
  24. rush — to hurry

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