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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: club · wax · ground · bat · band · nail · clip · degree

  1. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. The ________________ went through the wall.
  3. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  6. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  7. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  8. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. There's no middle ________________.
  15. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  18. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  22. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  23. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. nail — for a hammer
  3. wax — to grow
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. nail — for a hammer
  6. band — a music group
  7. club — for golf
  8. ground — the earth
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. degree — an amount
  11. nail — on a finger
  12. clip — to cut
  13. degree — temperature
  14. ground — a position
  15. band — a rubber band
  16. degree — from a university
  17. club — a group
  18. wax — in the ear
  19. bat — the animal
  20. clip — a video
  21. ground — crushed
  22. club — for dancing
  23. wax — for sculpting
  24. clip — for paper

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