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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: degree · wax · last · tube · pitch · lean · fan · cold

  1. I'll be taking the ________________.
  2. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  5. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  6. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  10. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  11. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  12. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  13. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  14. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  15. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  16. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. False peace will not ________________.
  21. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  22. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  23. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  24. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — the underground
  2. wax — in the ear
  3. cold — not warm
  4. wax — to grow
  5. lean — thin
  6. pitch — completely
  7. degree — from a university
  8. cold — an illness
  9. wax — for sculpting
  10. last — finally
  11. lean — to rest against
  12. fan — a supporter
  13. fan — to cool the air
  14. tube — in a tire
  15. tube — a container
  16. lean — to bend
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. degree — an amount
  19. degree — temperature
  20. last — to go on
  21. fan — a supporter
  22. pitch — a sports field
  23. last — final
  24. pitch — a sales talk

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