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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  6. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  9. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  16. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  17. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  18. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  19. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  22. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  23. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  24. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. degree — an amount
  3. wax — to grow
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. stem — a stem cell
  6. stem — of a plant
  7. degree — from a university
  8. wave — of the sea
  9. wax — in the ear
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. cold — an illness
  12. tear — from crying
  13. hand — in cards
  14. tear — from crying
  15. wave — with your hand
  16. bark — to shout
  17. stem — to come from
  18. bark — a dog's sound
  19. bark — of a tree
  20. degree — temperature
  21. wax — for sculpting
  22. tear — to rip
  23. hand — help
  24. wave — a sudden rise

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