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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. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. Have you met the new head ________________?
  4. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  8. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  13. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  14. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  15. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  16. There's no middle ________________.
  17. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  20. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  21. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  22. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  23. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  24. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. board — a flat piece
  2. degree — an amount
  3. coach — a trainer
  4. present — a gift
  5. tear — from crying
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. wax — to grow
  8. board — to get on
  9. degree — temperature
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. tear — to rip
  12. board — a committee
  13. present — the time now
  14. ground — crushed
  15. ground — the earth
  16. ground — a position
  17. coach — pulled by horses
  18. bat — the animal
  19. coach — a trainer
  20. present — there
  21. wax — in the ear
  22. wax — for sculpting
  23. tear — from crying
  24. degree — from a university

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