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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. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  2. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  3. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  4. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  8. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  11. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  12. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  15. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  16. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  17. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  21. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  24. What was your ________________ profit last year?

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

Answer key

  1. wax — in the ear
  2. fine — high quality
  3. wound — past of 'wind'
  4. fine — all right
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. degree — an amount
  7. fine — a penalty
  8. straw — a straw man
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. wax — to grow
  11. wind — moving air
  12. band — a music group
  13. degree — temperature
  14. net — in sport
  15. wax — for sculpting
  16. net — for catching
  17. wound — an injury
  18. wind — moving air
  19. degree — from a university
  20. band — a ring
  21. band — a rubber band
  22. wound — an injury
  23. wind — to turn a key
  24. net — after costs

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