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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 · can · clip · dip · wax · field · scale · shower

  1. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  4. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  7. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  11. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  15. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  20. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  21. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. clip — a video
  3. can — a tin
  4. wax — in the ear
  5. shower — to wash
  6. scale — for weighing
  7. shower — rain
  8. degree — temperature
  9. field — a subject
  10. can — to be able to
  11. can — a tin
  12. degree — from a university
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. scale — size or range
  15. wax — to grow
  16. clip — to cut
  17. dip — a sauce
  18. field — for sport
  19. dip — to dunk
  20. scale — in music
  21. dip — to sink
  22. degree — an amount
  23. clip — for paper
  24. wax — for sculpting

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