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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: cold · net · hand · degree · track · cell · root · wax

  1. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  2. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  4. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  5. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  6. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  7. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  8. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  9. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  10. He was locked up in a ________________.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  20. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. track — to keep track
  2. cell — a phone
  3. net — after costs
  4. track — a song
  5. wax — to grow
  6. net — for catching
  7. root — of a plant
  8. track — a path
  9. net — in sport
  10. cell — in a prison
  11. cold — not warm
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. root — the cause
  14. hand — in cards
  15. degree — temperature
  16. degree — from a university
  17. cold — an illness
  18. hand — help
  19. wax — for sculpting
  20. root — of a word
  21. cell — in biology
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. degree — an amount
  24. wax — in the ear

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