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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: drill · toast · date · kid · press · degree · wax · race

  1. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  4. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  5. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  6. Have you settled on a ________________?
  7. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  8. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  9. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  12. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  13. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  16. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  17. Did you ________________ the button?
  18. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  19. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  22. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.

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

Answer key

  1. date — on the calendar
  2. kid — child
  3. race — the arms race
  4. wax — to grow
  5. press — a publisher
  6. date — on the calendar
  7. race — a contest
  8. toast — the most admired
  9. toast — a drink to someone
  10. degree — temperature
  11. kid — to tease
  12. press — newspapers
  13. wax — in the ear
  14. degree — an amount
  15. drill — the tool
  16. drill — a practice
  17. press — to push
  18. date — the fruit
  19. race — humankind
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. toast — bread
  22. wax — for sculpting
  23. degree — from a university
  24. drill — army training

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