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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 120 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 · scale · cold · field · rule · wax · spring · shower

  1. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  2. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  16. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  19. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — in the ear
  2. spring — a coil
  3. degree — temperature
  4. field — for sport
  5. cold — not warm
  6. wax — for sculpting
  7. degree — an amount
  8. rule — government
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. wax — to grow
  11. field — farmland
  12. shower — rain
  13. shower — to wash
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. scale — for weighing
  16. rule — a law
  17. spring — of water
  18. scale — size or range
  19. scale — in music
  20. spring — the season
  21. rule — to rule out
  22. degree — from a university
  23. cold — an illness
  24. field — a subject

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