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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: nail · spring · clip · wax · cold · present · staff · degree

  1. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  9. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  12. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. The ________________ went through the wall.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  19. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  20. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  23. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  24. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. spring — the season
  3. degree — an amount
  4. wax — for sculpting
  5. cold — not warm
  6. nail — for a hammer
  7. clip — a video
  8. present — there
  9. wax — in the ear
  10. degree — from a university
  11. staff — a stick
  12. spring — a coil
  13. clip — for paper
  14. clip — to cut
  15. degree — temperature
  16. nail — for a hammer
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. nail — on a finger
  19. staff — employees
  20. present — the time now
  21. cold — an illness
  22. wax — to grow
  23. present — a gift
  24. staff — employees

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