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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. How do you ________________ your surname?
  2. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  3. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  4. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  5. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  6. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  7. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  8. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  9. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. Have you settled on a ________________?
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  17. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  18. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  22. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  23. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — letters
  2. straw — to clutch at straws
  3. firm — a company
  4. date — on the calendar
  5. wax — to grow
  6. trunk — of an elephant
  7. firm — decided
  8. wax — for sculpting
  9. trunk — of a tree
  10. degree — temperature
  11. date — on the calendar
  12. file — a tool
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. spell — magic
  15. degree — from a university
  16. straw — a straw man
  17. trunk — of a car
  18. date — the fruit
  19. degree — an amount
  20. file — a document
  21. wax — in the ear
  22. spell — a short time
  23. firm — steady
  24. file — a line of people

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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