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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: wax · shower · degree · spring · fall · kick · rush · kid

  1. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  2. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  7. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  8. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  9. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  10. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  11. That must've been a ________________.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  19. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  22. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — in the ear
  2. rush — to hurry
  3. spring — of water
  4. shower — a meteor shower
  5. spring — a coil
  6. fall — to drop
  7. kid — child
  8. rush — hurry
  9. wax — to grow
  10. wax — for sculpting
  11. rush — a thrill
  12. degree — from a university
  13. degree — temperature
  14. fall — to drop
  15. shower — rain
  16. degree — an amount
  17. kid — to tease
  18. shower — to wash
  19. kick — with a leg
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. kick — a thrill
  22. fall — the season
  23. spring — the season
  24. kick — in football

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