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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: fall · straw · press · shower · wax · rock · degree · wind

  1. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  5. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  6. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  9. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  10. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  11. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  12. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  16. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  17. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  21. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  22. Did you ________________ the button?
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. degree — from a university
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. press — newspapers
  5. wax — to grow
  6. wind — moving air
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. straw — to clutch at straws
  9. rock — a stone
  10. rock — to move gently
  11. wind — moving air
  12. press — a publisher
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. shower — rain
  15. wax — in the ear
  16. fall — the season
  17. fall — to drop
  18. degree — temperature
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. fall — to drop
  21. rock — music
  22. press — to push
  23. degree — an amount
  24. wax — for sculpting

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