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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: track · degree · wax · stand · racket · cold · fan · vault

  1. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  4. I can't ________________ this cold.
  5. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  6. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  7. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  8. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  9. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  10. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  11. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  12. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  13. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  14. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  17. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  22. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. track — to keep track
  2. degree — an amount
  3. vault — an arched ceiling
  4. stand — to bear
  5. stand — for spectators
  6. track — a song
  7. stand — on your feet
  8. racket — for tennis
  9. fan — to cool the air
  10. racket — a loud noise
  11. fan — a supporter
  12. vault — in gymnastics
  13. racket — for tennis
  14. wax — to grow
  15. degree — temperature
  16. fan — a supporter
  17. track — a path
  18. degree — from a university
  19. cold — an illness
  20. cold — not warm
  21. wax — for sculpting
  22. wax — in the ear
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. vault — a safe

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