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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: season · present · degree · chair · wax · cold · kick · wound

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  10. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  11. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  12. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  13. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  14. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  15. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  16. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  17. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  18. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  19. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  22. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. Did you ________________ the meat?

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. present — a gift
  3. cold — an illness
  4. degree — from a university
  5. kick — a thrill
  6. degree — temperature
  7. wax — to grow
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. chair — a professorship
  10. wound — an injury
  11. present — there
  12. kick — in football
  13. chair — to sit on
  14. chair — a leader
  15. kick — with a leg
  16. wax — in the ear
  17. season — of the year
  18. wax — for sculpting
  19. wound — an injury
  20. degree — an amount
  21. present — the time now
  22. season — in sport
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. season — to add flavour

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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