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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 124 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. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  2. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  3. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. My father caught me by the ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  23. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  24. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — in cards
  2. wax — for sculpting
  3. wax — to grow
  4. hand — help
  5. degree — an amount
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. arm — part of the body
  8. cold — an illness
  9. cue — a hint
  10. degree — temperature
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. wax — in the ear
  13. cold — not warm
  14. straw — a straw man
  15. field — for sport
  16. arm — part of the body
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. field — farmland
  19. degree — from a university
  20. arm — a part of something
  21. field — a subject
  22. straw — to clutch at straws
  23. cue — a signal
  24. cue — for pool

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