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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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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: cell · bat · kid · chest · wax · tube · vault · degree

  1. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. He was locked up in a ________________.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  11. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  12. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. I'll be taking the ________________.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  23. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  24. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — a phone
  2. kid — child
  3. cell — in a prison
  4. chest — of your body
  5. wax — to grow
  6. kid — to tease
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. degree — temperature
  10. wax — in the ear
  11. vault — an arched ceiling
  12. vault — a safe
  13. degree — an amount
  14. tube — the underground
  15. bat — the animal
  16. cell — in biology
  17. tube — in a tire
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. chest — a box
  20. vault — in gymnastics
  21. degree — from a university
  22. chest — of your body
  23. wax — for sculpting
  24. tube — a container

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