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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 · chest · wax · current · clip · plane · tube · fan

  1. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  5. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  6. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  9. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  10. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  13. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  14. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. The ________________ took off on time.
  17. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. I'll be taking the ________________.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. The moon will ________________ and wane.

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

Answer key

  1. current — electric
  2. chest — of your body
  3. degree — from a university
  4. fan — a supporter
  5. current — of water
  6. wax — in the ear
  7. chest — a box
  8. fan — to cool the air
  9. plane — in geometry
  10. wax — for sculpting
  11. clip — to cut
  12. plane — a tool
  13. tube — a container
  14. fan — a supporter
  15. degree — temperature
  16. plane — an aircraft
  17. tube — in a tire
  18. chest — of your body
  19. current — happening now
  20. clip — for paper
  21. clip — a video
  22. tube — the underground
  23. degree — an amount
  24. wax — to grow

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