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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. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  6. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  11. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  12. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  21. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  22. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  23. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  24. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. racket — for tennis
  3. degree — from a university
  4. hand — help
  5. object — an aim
  6. race — the arms race
  7. degree — temperature
  8. wax — to grow
  9. degree — an amount
  10. object — to protest
  11. band — a music group
  12. band — a rubber band
  13. hand — in cards
  14. racket — a loud noise
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. racket — for tennis
  18. bat — the animal
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. object — a thing
  21. race — humankind
  22. wax — for sculpting
  23. race — a contest
  24. wax — in the ear

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