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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: squash · wax · row · date · lean · pop · deal · degree

  1. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  4. We're almost out of ________________.
  5. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  6. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  7. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  8. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  11. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  12. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  13. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  14. Have you settled on a ________________?
  15. You don't need to ________________ round.
  16. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  17. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  18. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  19. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  20. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  23. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the vegetable
  2. degree — from a university
  3. lean — thin
  4. pop — soda
  5. squash — the sport
  6. row — a quarrel
  7. deal — a big deal
  8. deal — to handle
  9. degree — an amount
  10. wax — for sculpting
  11. date — on the calendar
  12. row — a line
  13. wax — in the ear
  14. date — on the calendar
  15. pop — to visit
  16. squash — to crush
  17. pop — music
  18. lean — to rest against
  19. lean — to bend
  20. deal — an agreement
  21. row — to paddle
  22. date — the fruit
  23. wax — to grow
  24. degree — temperature

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