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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. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. There's no middle ________________.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  7. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  8. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  9. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  13. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  14. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  15. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  16. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  19. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  24. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?

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

Answer key

  1. pass — to succeed
  2. shower — to wash
  3. ground — a position
  4. degree — from a university
  5. degree — an amount
  6. wax — to grow
  7. object — a thing
  8. squash — the sport
  9. pass — a permit
  10. degree — temperature
  11. shower — rain
  12. wax — in the ear
  13. ground — crushed
  14. wax — for sculpting
  15. ground — the earth
  16. object — an aim
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. squash — the vegetable
  19. squash — to crush
  20. mine — for digging
  21. mine — belonging to me
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. pass — to spend time
  24. object — to protest

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