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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: wind · bay · content · straw · hand · wax · mine · degree

  1. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  2. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  3. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  11. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  12. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. My mare is ________________ in color.
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — to grow
  2. straw — a straw man
  3. straw — to clutch at straws
  4. degree — temperature
  5. wind — to turn a key
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. mine — for digging
  8. wax — for sculpting
  9. content — happy
  10. wax — in the ear
  11. bay — to keep at bay
  12. bay — a part of the sea
  13. degree — an amount
  14. bay — a horse colour
  15. content — the amount
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. degree — from a university
  20. hand — in cards
  21. hand — help
  22. wind — moving air
  23. wind — moving air
  24. straw — dry grass

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