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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 120 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: cold · kid · wake · lean · degree · hand · wax · straw

  1. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  11. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  17. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  18. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  23. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. wax — to grow
  3. cold — not warm
  4. kid — to tease
  5. straw — to clutch at straws
  6. degree — temperature
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. hand — in cards
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. lean — thin
  11. wake — a trail
  12. cold — an illness
  13. lean — to rest against
  14. kid — child
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. lean — to bend
  17. wake — before a funeral
  18. wake — to stop sleeping
  19. degree — from a university
  20. wax — for sculpting
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. hand — help
  23. wax — in the ear
  24. degree — an amount

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