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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. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  2. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  3. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  4. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  8. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  9. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  16. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  17. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  18. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  19. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  22. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  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 — temperature
  2. content — videos and posts
  3. file — a tool
  4. leaves — lets stay
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. content — happy
  7. wake — to stop sleeping
  8. wax — in the ear
  9. branch — of a tree
  10. cold — an illness
  11. wake — before a funeral
  12. file — a document
  13. degree — an amount
  14. degree — from a university
  15. branch — a division
  16. wake — a trail
  17. leaves — to go away
  18. branch — of a bank
  19. leaves — of a tree
  20. file — a line of people
  21. wax — for sculpting
  22. content — the amount
  23. cold — not warm
  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