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

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

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

Answer key

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

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