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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: cold · date · bay · degree · chip · wake · sharp · wax

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  3. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  4. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  8. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  9. It's one o'clock ________________.
  10. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  11. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  14. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  17. Have you settled on a ________________?
  18. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  19. My mare is ________________ in color.
  20. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  21. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  24. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. bay — a part of the sea
  3. sharp — clever
  4. wake — to stop sleeping
  5. degree — from a university
  6. cold — an illness
  7. chip — for betting
  8. wax — in the ear
  9. sharp — exactly
  10. sharp — with an edge
  11. bay — to keep at bay
  12. degree — an amount
  13. wake — a trail
  14. chip — in a computer
  15. degree — temperature
  16. wax — for sculpting
  17. date — on the calendar
  18. wake — before a funeral
  19. bay — a horse colour
  20. date — the fruit
  21. chip — to eat
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. wax — to grow
  24. date — on the calendar

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