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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: degree · wax · game · sharp · patient · snap · bat · branch

  1. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  3. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  6. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  13. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  18. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  22. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  23. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  24. It's one o'clock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. snap — to speak sharply
  3. patient — a sick person
  4. degree — temperature
  5. sharp — clever
  6. snap — to snap out of it
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. degree — an amount
  9. game — wild animals
  10. patient — calm and waiting
  11. degree — from a university
  12. patient — a sick person
  13. wax — in the ear
  14. bat — the animal
  15. wax — to grow
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. branch — of a bank
  18. wax — for sculpting
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. game — a match
  21. branch — of a tree
  22. branch — a division
  23. sharp — with an edge
  24. sharp — exactly

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