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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: kid · chest · chair · degree · wax · patient

  1. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  6. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  7. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  8. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  9. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  16. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. The moon will ________________ and wane.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  3. kid — to tease
  4. degree — from a university
  5. patient — calm and waiting
  6. chair — a professorship
  7. wax — in the ear
  8. chair — to sit on
  9. patient — a sick person
  10. degree — an amount
  11. chest — of your body
  12. chair — a leader
  13. kid — child
  14. degree — temperature
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. wax — for sculpting
  17. chest — a box
  18. wax — to grow

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