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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. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  3. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  4. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  5. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  6. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  7. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  14. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  15. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  16. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  19. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  24. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. file — a tool
  3. wind — moving air
  4. file — a line of people
  5. bowl — a football final
  6. wax — for sculpting
  7. chair — to sit on
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. file — a document
  10. cold — not warm
  11. bowl — to roll
  12. cold — an illness
  13. wax — to grow
  14. chair — a leader
  15. wax — in the ear
  16. hide — to keep secret
  17. degree — temperature
  18. hide — to keep secret
  19. hide — animal skin
  20. degree — from a university
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. degree — an amount
  23. wind — moving air
  24. bowl — a dish

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