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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. My father caught me by the ________________.
  2. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  3. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  7. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  8. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  11. How do you ________________ your surname?
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  19. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  22. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.

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

Answer key

  1. arm — part of the body
  2. spell — magic
  3. wax — to grow
  4. spring — the season
  5. land — a country
  6. arm — part of the body
  7. mark — a grade
  8. straw — to clutch at straws
  9. spring — of water
  10. straw — dry grass
  11. spell — letters
  12. land — ground
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. arm — a part of something
  15. spring — a coil
  16. degree — from a university
  17. degree — temperature
  18. mark — a trace
  19. mark — to pay attention
  20. degree — an amount
  21. spell — a short time
  22. wax — in the ear
  23. land — to come down
  24. wax — for sculpting

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