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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  3. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  4. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  5. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  6. It's one o'clock ________________.
  7. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  8. There's no middle ________________.
  9. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  10. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  11. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  12. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. You don't need to ________________ round.
  15. We're almost out of ________________.
  16. The ________________ took off on time.
  17. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  18. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  19. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  20. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  21. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  24. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. pop — music
  3. sharp — with an edge
  4. snap — to click
  5. trunk — of a car
  6. sharp — exactly
  7. wax — to grow
  8. ground — a position
  9. snap — to speak sharply
  10. trunk — of a tree
  11. plane — a tool
  12. snap — to snap out of it
  13. degree — temperature
  14. pop — to visit
  15. pop — soda
  16. plane — an aircraft
  17. plane — in geometry
  18. wax — for sculpting
  19. ground — crushed
  20. trunk — of an elephant
  21. sharp — clever
  22. degree — from a university
  23. wax — in the ear
  24. ground — the earth

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