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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. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  2. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  3. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  4. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  8. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  9. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  10. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  13. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  16. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  17. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  21. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  22. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  23. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  24. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to point toward
  2. track — a path
  3. branch — of a tree
  4. track — a song
  5. degree — from a university
  6. degree — an amount
  7. perch — the fish
  8. face — part of the head
  9. wax — to grow
  10. wake — to stop sleeping
  11. clip — to cut
  12. branch — of a bank
  13. wake — a trail
  14. clip — a video
  15. wax — for sculpting
  16. branch — a division
  17. perch — for a bird
  18. clip — for paper
  19. degree — temperature
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. track — to keep track
  22. wax — in the ear
  23. face — to confront
  24. wake — before a funeral

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