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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. When are we going to ________________?
  2. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  3. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  4. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. The King held a masked ________________.
  9. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  10. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  20. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  21. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. row — a quarrel
  3. wax — for sculpting
  4. march — music
  5. degree — temperature
  6. row — a line
  7. cold — an illness
  8. ball — a dance
  9. ball — a round shape
  10. wax — in the ear
  11. degree — from a university
  12. row — to paddle
  13. cold — not warm
  14. firm — a company
  15. march — the month
  16. land — a country
  17. wax — to grow
  18. degree — an amount
  19. firm — steady
  20. firm — decided
  21. ball — a great time
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. land — ground
  24. march — the month

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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