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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 · ground · drill · mine · board · degree · tear · kid

  1. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  4. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  5. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  10. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. There's no middle ________________.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  21. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  22. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  24. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.

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

Answer key

  1. drill — the tool
  2. tear — from crying
  3. wax — in the ear
  4. drill — a practice
  5. wax — for sculpting
  6. tear — to rip
  7. degree — from a university
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. wax — to grow
  10. board — a flat piece
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. board — a committee
  13. kid — child
  14. ground — a position
  15. degree — an amount
  16. mine — for digging
  17. kid — to tease
  18. degree — temperature
  19. tear — from crying
  20. ground — crushed
  21. ground — the earth
  22. drill — army training
  23. mine — an explosive
  24. board — to get on

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