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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 soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  9. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  13. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  14. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  15. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. The ________________ went through the wall.
  19. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  20. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  23. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. drill — army training
  2. degree — an amount
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. wax — in the ear
  5. chest — of your body
  6. chest — of your body
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. drill — a practice
  9. wax — for sculpting
  10. degree — temperature
  11. bat — the animal
  12. nail — on a finger
  13. bass — low music
  14. wax — to grow
  15. drill — the tool
  16. kid — child
  17. degree — from a university
  18. nail — for a hammer
  19. bass — the instrument
  20. bass — the fish
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. kid — to tease
  23. nail — for a hammer
  24. chest — a box

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