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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 · club · field · mug · ball · last · wax · chair

  1. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  3. Where did you ________________ them?
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  6. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  11. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  12. The King held a masked ________________.
  13. False peace will not ________________.
  14. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  15. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  16. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  17. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  18. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  21. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  22. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  23. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  24. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. club — for golf
  3. mug — to rob
  4. degree — from a university
  5. last — finally
  6. chair — a leader
  7. field — a subject
  8. degree — an amount
  9. degree — temperature
  10. ball — a round shape
  11. wax — to grow
  12. ball — a dance
  13. last — to go on
  14. chair — a professorship
  15. wax — in the ear
  16. mug — a cup
  17. mug — a face
  18. club — for dancing
  19. field — for sport
  20. ball — a great time
  21. chair — to sit on
  22. wax — for sculpting
  23. field — farmland
  24. club — a group

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