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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 120 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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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  4. You don't need to ________________ round.
  5. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  8. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  9. We're almost out of ________________.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  13. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  14. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  15. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  16. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  17. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  18. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. chest — of your body
  3. leaves — of a tree
  4. pop — to visit
  5. wax — for sculpting
  6. cold — an illness
  7. club — for golf
  8. wax — in the ear
  9. pop — soda
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. chest — a box
  12. club — a group
  13. leaves — to go away
  14. leaves — lets stay
  15. chest — of your body
  16. wax — to grow
  17. club — for dancing
  18. pop — music

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