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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: wax · bat · hand · track · rash · saw · degree · land

  1. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  2. He works in a ________________ mill.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. She's very handy with a ________________.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. Don't do anything ________________.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  17. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  21. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  24. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — in the ear
  2. saw — the tool
  3. land — to come down
  4. saw — the tool
  5. degree — temperature
  6. wax — to grow
  7. hand — in cards
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. track — to keep track
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. rash — hasty
  12. hand — help
  13. degree — from a university
  14. land — ground
  15. bat — the animal
  16. rash — on the skin
  17. track — a song
  18. land — a country
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. rash — a series
  21. track — a path
  22. degree — an amount
  23. wax — for sculpting
  24. saw — past of 'see'

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