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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 116 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: game · lean · degree · row · race · wax · hand · prune

  1. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  2. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  5. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  6. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  7. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  8. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  9. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  17. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  18. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  19. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  20. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  21. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  22. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. The moon will ________________ and wane.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — thin
  2. row — a quarrel
  3. degree — from a university
  4. race — the arms race
  5. race — humankind
  6. prune — to trim
  7. prune — to trim
  8. game — wild animals
  9. wax — in the ear
  10. hand — in cards
  11. game — a match
  12. lean — to bend
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. row — to paddle
  15. degree — temperature
  16. game — a kind of play
  17. row — a line
  18. lean — to rest against
  19. hand — help
  20. race — a contest
  21. wax — for sculpting
  22. prune — the fruit
  23. degree — an amount
  24. wax — to grow

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