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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: stem · face · wax · spell · clip · ball · scale · degree

  1. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  4. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  5. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  6. The King held a masked ________________.
  7. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  8. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  11. How do you ________________ your surname?
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  19. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  20. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  21. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  22. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  23. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  24. She had a strange look on her ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — a short time
  2. clip — a video
  3. wax — to grow
  4. face — to point toward
  5. stem — of a plant
  6. ball — a dance
  7. spell — magic
  8. ball — a great time
  9. degree — temperature
  10. stem — a stem cell
  11. spell — letters
  12. degree — an amount
  13. ball — a round shape
  14. clip — to cut
  15. degree — from a university
  16. scale — for weighing
  17. clip — for paper
  18. stem — to come from
  19. wax — for sculpting
  20. face — to confront
  21. wax — in the ear
  22. scale — size or range
  23. scale — in music
  24. face — part of the head

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