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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: club · land · pit · fork · file · degree · wax · bass

  1. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  4. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  7. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  8. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  9. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  13. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  14. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  15. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  16. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  17. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  23. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  24. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. wax — in the ear
  2. land — ground
  3. pit — in a race
  4. bass — low music
  5. file — a tool
  6. pit — a fruit stone
  7. wax — to grow
  8. club — for golf
  9. fork — a garden tool
  10. degree — from a university
  11. degree — an amount
  12. pit — a hole
  13. wax — for sculpting
  14. club — a group
  15. bass — the fish
  16. club — for dancing
  17. fork — to eat with
  18. file — a line of people
  19. land — a country
  20. file — a document
  21. degree — temperature
  22. bass — the instrument
  23. fork — in a road
  24. land — to come down

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