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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: ground · bank · degree · file · pound · bat · kid · wax

  1. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  5. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  6. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  7. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  8. There's no middle ________________.
  9. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  10. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  17. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  20. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. ground — the earth
  3. kid — child
  4. bank — of a river
  5. wax — to grow
  6. ground — crushed
  7. wax — for sculpting
  8. ground — a position
  9. bank — for money
  10. pound — for dogs
  11. degree — temperature
  12. degree — from a university
  13. file — a document
  14. degree — an amount
  15. file — a line of people
  16. pound — a weight
  17. pound — to hit hard
  18. file — a tool
  19. bank — for money
  20. wax — in the ear
  21. bat — the animal
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. bat — in an idiom

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