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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. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  9. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  10. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  18. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  19. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  20. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  23. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  24. The tickets are free of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — to grow
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. board — a committee
  4. degree — an amount
  5. game — a match
  6. net — after costs
  7. cold — not warm
  8. board — to get on
  9. row — to paddle
  10. wax — for sculpting
  11. game — wild animals
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. net — for catching
  14. cold — an illness
  15. row — a line
  16. degree — temperature
  17. wax — in the ear
  18. board — a flat piece
  19. charge — in control
  20. charge — electricity
  21. degree — from a university
  22. row — a quarrel
  23. net — in sport
  24. charge — a price

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